JUNIUS UNMASKED 



OB, 



THOMAS PAINE 



THE AUTHOR OF 



THE LETTERS OF JUlSriUS, 



DECLARATION OF mOEPENDENCE, 



Non stat diutius nominis umbra, 

I 



WASHINGTON, D.C.: 

JOHN GRAY & CO., PUBLISHERS. 

1872. 



11 1 ^>^■; 

:?3 M^- 



Entered according to Act ot Congress, in the year 1871, by 

JOHN GRAY & CO., 
In the OfRce of the Libi-arian of Congress, at Washington. 



')' 



PREFACE, 



One hundred years ago to-day, Junius wrote as follows: 
"The man who fairly and completely answers this argu- 
ment, shall have my thanks and my applause. . . . 
Grateful as I am to the good Being whose bounty has 
imparted to me this reasoning intellect, whatever it is, I 
hold myself proportionably indebted to him from whose 
enlightened understanding another ray of knowledge com- 
municates to mine. But neither should I think the most 
exalted faculties of the human mind a gift worthy of the 
Divinity, nor any assistance in the improvement of them 
a subject of gratitude to my fellow-creatures, if I were not 
satisfied that really to inform the understanding corrects 
and enlarges the heart." , 

These were the concluding words of his last Letter. So 
say I now, and I make them the preface to an argument 
which now sets the great apostle of liberty right before the 
world. They serve, like a literary hyphen, to connect 
the two ages— his own with this ; and the two lives — the 
masked with the open one; in both of which ages and 
lives he did good to mankind, and that mightily. 

"Washington, D. C, January 21, 1872. 



PA^ET I. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The literary work which survives a century has un- 
common merit. Time has set the seal of approval upon 
it. It has passed its probation and entered the ages. 
A century has just closed upon the work of Junius. 
The causes which produced it, either in act or person, 
have long since passed away. The foolish king, the 
corrupt minister, and the prostituted legislature are for- 
gotten, or only recalled to be despised ; but the work 
of Junius, startling in thought, daring in design, bris- 
tling with satire, a consuming fire to those he attacked, 
remains to be admired for its principles, and to be 
studied for its beauty and strength. 

The times in which Junius wrote were big with 
events. The Seven Years' War had just closed with 
shining victories to Prussia and England. Frederic, 
with an unimpaired nation and a permanent peace, it 
left with a good heart and much personal glory ; but 
George III., with India and America in his hands, with 
the plunder of a great conquest to distribute to a greedy 
and licentious court, it left pious, but simple. 

Great wars disturb the masses. They awaken them 

(7) 



8 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

from the plodding, dull routine of physical labor, and, 
thrusting great questions of conquest and defense, of 
justice and honor, before them, agitate them into 
thought. Conditions change; new ideas take the place 
of old ones, and a revolution in thought and action fol- 
lows. But a war of ideas, starting from principles of 
peace, brings the enslaved again to the sword, and this 
crisis is termed a revolution. 

Junius wrote at the dawn of the age of revolutions. 
The war of ideas was waged against priestcraft, and 
skepticism was the result. Voltaire had struck fable 
from history with the pen of criticism, and a scientific 
method here dawned upon history. Rousseau's democ- 
racy had entered the hearts of the down-trodden in 
France, and, a wandering exile, he had spread the con- 
tagion in England. George Berkeley, the Irish idealist, 
had just died, and the Scotch Thomas Reid arose with 
the weapon of common sense to test the metaphysician's 
ideas. Common Sense was, in the strictest sense, revo- 
lutionary, and, under the tyranny of king, lords, and 
commons, meant war. It was not a phrase without 
meaning, but a principle proclaimed, and it passed more 
readily into the understanding of the common people 
because conveyed in common speech. When Reid said, 
" I despise philosophy, and renounce its guidance ; let 
my soul dwell in common sense,'' he illuminated all 
Britain and America. The philosophy of common sense 
entered the professor's chair, invaded the pulpit, and, 
having passed thence into the humblest cottage, soon 
took a higher range — it went immediately up and 
knocked at the king's gate. It would be false to say it 
found admittance there. It was only because there had 



JNTROD UOTION. % 

been a new world opened as an asylum for the oppressed 
of every land, that it did not sweep kings and monarchs 
from all the high places in Europe. 

At this time, too, Mr. Pitt, the great commoner, the 
friend of common sense and English liberty, in his old 
age, war-worn and sick, had compromised with his 
vanity for a title. In his great fall from Pitt to Chat- 
ham, from the people to a peerage, he gained nothing 
but lost his good name. He exchanged worth for a 
bauble, and a noble respect for the contempt of nobles 
and the sorrows of the people. Mr. Pitt had departed, 
Lord Chatham was passing away; and in any assault 
by a trafficking ministry and corrupt legislature upon 
the people's rights, there was no one left to bend the 
bow at the gates. 

To tax the colonies became the settled plan of king, 
ministers, and parliament. The tax was easily imposed, 
but c6uld not be enforced. Freedom had long before 
been driven to America, and, in a line of direct descent, 
her blood had been transmitted from mother to son. 
The true sons of freedom now stood shoulder to shoul- 
der, and, looking forward to independence, claimed to 
have rights as men, which king and lords would not 
concede to subjects. The Stamp Act was passed and 
repealed, and a Test Act substituted. England refused 
to compel the colonies to give up their money without 
their consent, but menaced them, and consoled herself 
with these words : ^^ The king in parliament hath full 
power to hind the colonies in all things whatsoever. ''^ 
Having surrendered the fact, she indulged in declama- 
tion, and the world laughed at her folly. Like a fretful 
and stupid mother demanding a favor of her son grown 



10 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

to manhood, and, being refused^ persists in scolding and 
shaking the fist at him, as if he still wore a baby's frock. 
At this juncture Junius wrote his Letters. The cir- 
cumstances called him forth. He was a child of fate. 
He spoke to the greatest personages, assaulted the 
strongest power, and advocated the rights of man before 
the highest tribunal then acknowledged on earth. This 
he could not do openly, and what he said came as with 
tlie power of a hidden god. There is no evidence that 
Junius ever revealed himself. ^'I am the sole deposi- 
tory of my own secret, and it shall perish with me.^'" 
This he said and religiously kept. But his was the age 
which demanded it. He also said: '^ Whenever Junius 
appears, he must encounter a host of enemies." One 
hundred years have passed since he said this, but this 
"host'' is less to be feared now than when he wrote. 
No one now can injure him, and there are few who 
would assault his grave. It is time to unmask Junius, 
and though still to be hated, I will reveal the enemy of 
kings and the friend of man. The reforms he advocated 
for England are partly accomplished, and the principles 
he taught, if not adopted there, have been established 
in America. He left no child to bear his name, but he 
was the father of a nation. The unimpaired inheritance 
was his thoughts and principles; these he transmitted, 
not alone to this nation, but to the world— /or the world 
was his country. 



METHOD. 

In the investigation of a subject so startling and 
novel, and especially when it leads to the criticism of a 
work which has found favor with the public^ and now 
to be attributed to an author who has been publicly 
condemned^ it becomes the critic to state clearly the plan 
of his argument, what he designs to do, and how he 
intends to do it. I therefore ask: Who was Junius? 
I answer: Thomas Paine. The object of this book is 
to prove this, and possibly to demonstrate it. To do 
this, I shall follow as closely as possible the order of 
events, giving parallels and coincidences in character, 
conduct, and composition of the masked and the open 
life. 

I do not fear as to the proof of my proposition, but 
I shall aim higher, I shall try to demonstrate by the 
overwhelming weight of facts. Proof produces belief, 
demonstration knowledge. The innocent have been 
hanged on the evidence of proof, but a fact is established 
by demonstration. Demonstration follows proof, and 
knowledge follows belief; and ascending from the indi- 
vidual to mankind, we find the age of reason to succeed 
the age of faith. Science dwells in demonstration, and 
establishes principles from observed facts. Why may 
there not be a scientific criticism? To arrive at this 

(11) 



12 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

the writer must ascend to that eminence in feeling where 
the opposing prejudices of mankind can not reach him; 
he must rise above praise or censure, he must dwell 
alone in the light of reason, he must be a child of 
Truth. Vain, however,' would it be to expect to find 
himself or a public devoid of prejudice. This is im- 
possible, for prejudice is produced by strong conviction. 
It is a feeling which, like a magnet, points as the elec- 
tric force directs. To counteract this force is to destroy 
the magnet. It is those who think deeply, and have 
investigated thoroughly, who have an enlightened pre- 
judice, and those who take upon authority what others 
tell them, who have a blind prejudice; but those who 
neither think nor investigate for themselves may truly 
be said to have no prejudice. My object is to convince 
the understanding and thereby build up a prejudice in 
favor of my proposition, which shall have a foundation 
of fact and argument, not to be removed, and to be but 
little disturbed. The world is my jury, they shall 
decide upon the facts. Lord Bacon gave the world a 
method, this method is also mine : Let FACTS RE\^EAL 
THE INWARD TEUTH OF KATTJEE. 



MYSTERY. 

There is a scarcity of facts, a painful obscurity 
connected with that part of Mr. Paine's life before he 
removed to America. In fact, history has given him to 
the world, as almost beginning life on his arrival at 
Philadelphia, near the close of the year 1774. At this 
time, in the full stature of manhood, a little less than 
forty years of age, we find him without a personal his- 
tory, without any events in life sufficient to predicate 
his after life upon. Can the great life to come rest on 
nothing? How came that mighty mind so fully stored 
with history, so deeply analytic, so skilled in literature 
and science, so perfect in the art of expressing ideas, so 
highly disciplined and finely equipped, ready to do 
battle against kings and ministers and in behalf of hu- 
man rights? Whence came that mighty pen, which 
has often been acknowledged to have done more for 
human freedom than the .sword of Washington ? Why 
this dumb silence of history? There comes to us no 
thought of Mr. Paine worth recording prior to this time. 
The proud and imposing superstructure stands on a 
basis fit and substantial, but it rises out of the depths 
of mystery. And what little we do know of him prior 
to this time, aside from the great fact of his birth, is 
only a series of minor facts, with great blanks not even 
capable of being filled up by the imagination. 

(13) 



14 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

When a lad he went to school, but how long he went, 
or with what proficiency he studied, nobody knows. 
At sixteen he went aboard a privateer, but how long 
he served, or what made him quit the service, nobody 
knows. At twenty-seven he enters the employ of the 
English government as an exciseman, but was dismissed 
in a little over a year, nobody knows why. He now 
teaches school in Loudon a year, but nobody knows 
with wdiat success, or what were his accomplishments. 
He now quits London and letters, and the society of 
the learned, to return to the same petty office from 
which he had been dismissed, and for the trifling salary 
of less than fifty pounds a year. This office he now 
holds eight years more. Only a solitary ray of light 
illuminates this long period, when in the full tide of 
life. The chronicler renders it insignificant by a sin- 
gle dash of the j3en. It is closed with. another dis- 
missal and dismal mystery. He now forever separates 
from his wife upon amicable terms, nobody knows why. 
During their after lives they neither of them marry, 
and never speak disrespectfully of each other. He 
leaves her all the property, and often sends her money 
during his after life. This obscure and twice dis- 
missed English exciseman^ it is said, now goes to talk 
with Benjamin Franklin, minister at the court of St. 
James, for several of the colonies ; and, by what means 
nobody knows, obtains letters of the highest com- 
mendation, as an introduction to America, from her 
greatest and most honored citizen. A few months 
afterward Benjamin Franklin places in the hands of 
Mr. Paine important documents, for him to write a 
history of the political troubles and a defense of the 



MYSTERY. 15 

colonies. A mighty work, worthy of a greater than 
Franklin ! These facts stagger credulity. An ob- 
scure English exciseman, whose life is yet a blank, 
who has never been an author, save perhaps of some 
fugitive pamphlet to demand more pay for excise of- 
ficers, is introduced to America, and is solicited and in- 
trusted by America's greatest writer, thinker, patriot, 
and statesman, to do America's greatest work, and that 
work, too, which shall decide forever the fate of a 
world. Franklin ! by what mysterious gift of divina- 
tion hast thou found thy man ? Is there no child of 
America among all the sons of Freedom equal to the 
task ? Where art thou thyself? But the man Frank- 
lin found had no need of books or his documents. 
This obscure Englishman had the facts in his memory, 
the wrongs in his heart, the logic in his reason, and 
he thought for himself. His work was half written 
before Franklin had furnished him with the ^' neces- 
sary papers,'' and as a New Year's gift surprised the 
learned doctor with the first pamphlet of Common 
Sense. 

The appearance of this greatest of political works 
which has blessed a world, with all the attending cir- 
cumstances — the obscure life of Paine, the few wild 
events connected with it, the unprecedented action of 
Franklin, the introduction to the world of a profound 
thinker and almost perfect writer in the full ripeness of 
his intellect, and the beginning of an unceasing brilliant 
literary life at its meridian, are mysteries, save in this 
instance, unknown to history. Common Sense is a 
child of mystery. It is the best of this great author's 
productions. He himself so considered it, for he directs 



16 JUNIUS UNMASKED, 

that his tombstone shall bear the simple inscription, 
Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense. 

That Thomas Paine should have lived an easy, idle 
life, without any great effort in thought, study, or com- 
position, for fifteen years immediately preceding the 
appearance of Common Sense, is what no writer, or 
thinker, or student, or statesman will believe. Great 
works of genius do not come in this way, much less 
profound political writings. Even inspiration would 
desert the connection. And that the proud, ambitious, 
literary adventurer, who shall dedicate his life to the 
good of mankind, who shall wrest the power from 
priests and the scepter from kings, should content him- 
self to fill a poor and petty office under a king he 
despised, without some nobler object in view, and at 
that age too when the mind of man is the most aspir- 
ing, and drives to the greatest activity, is what no one 
who knows the heart of man, and the secret springs of 
action, will believe. But if it can be proven that 
Thomas Paine was Junius, then will every blank be 
filled and every mystery dispelled. 

There is no external evidence, direct in its nature, as 
to the authorship of Junius ; the evidence is internal. 
That the secret did not perish with Junius, no one can 
gainsay. But that he told it to no one, we are not at 
liberty to conclude. Time has sufficiently removed us 
from the scene of conflict. We are not bewildered with 
a multitude of claimants, with an army of witnesses 
for and against ; nor are we disturbed by the clamors of 
the public, and the hearsay evidence of belligerents. In 
this universal calm I will bring Junius forth to speak 
for himself. 



STATEMENT. 

The time occupied in writing the Lettees of Jun- 
ius was just three years. The first one is dated Jan- 
uary 21, 1769, and the last one January 21, 1772. 
They were written for the Public Advertiser, a news- 
paper printed in London, and were afterward revised 
and corrected by Junius. The edition which he cor- 
rected "contains all the letters of Junius, Philo Junius, 
and of Sir William Draper, and Mr. Home to Junius, 
with their respective dates, and according to the order 
in which they appeared in the Public Advertiser. ''^ 
There are seventy-eight in alL Of these, Junius wrote 
sixty ; thirty the first year, five the second, and twenty- 
five the third year. In these Lettees Junius fre- 
quently defends himself over the signature of Philo 
Junius, which he deemed indispensably necessary in 
answer to plausible objections. On this point Junius 
observes: "The subordinate character is never guilty 
of the indecorum of praising his principal. The fraud 
was innocent, and I always intended to explain it." 
These letters were an attack upon the king and minis- 
try, and a defense of the people, whose original rights 
had been invaded. If Thomas Paine wrote them, he 
was then an exciseman stationed at Lewes, about forty 

(17) 



18 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

miles south of London, and was just thirty-live years 
old when he completed them. 

I will now introduce to the reader Junius himself 
through his first letter, which was one of his most fin- 
ished productions, and contains the germs of all the 
rest. I will give also the comments of Chauncey A. 
Goodrich, D. D., formerly professor of Ehetoric in 
Yale College. These comments are to be found in the 
doctor's work, entitled British Eloquence. I do this 
for two reasons: to let the reader see what high value 
is placed on Junius by the learned who teach eloquence 
by example, and also that he may see the object, method, 
and style of Junius. I shall afterward add my own 
comments on the doctor's notes, setting him right when 
in error in matters of fact. This will fully open the 
question and prepare the reader for my argument. 



LETTER 

TO THE PRINTER OF THE PUBLIC ADVERTISER.* 

Sir, — The submission of a free people to the execu- 
tive authority of government is no more than a com- 
pliance with laws which they themselves have enacted. 
While the national honor is firmly maintained abroad, 
and while justice is impartially administered at home, 

* 1. Dated January 21, 1769. There is a great regu- 
larity in the structure of this letter. The first two 
paragraphs contain the exordium. The transition fol- 
lows in the third paragraph, leading to the main 
jproposition, which is contained in the fourth, viz., 
'^that the existing discontent and disasters of the nation 
were justly chargeable on the king and ministry/^ 
The next eight paragraphs are intended to give the 
proof of the proposition, by reviewing the chief depart- 
ments of government, and endeavoring to show the 
incompetency or mal-administration of the men to 
whom they were intrusted. A recapitulation follows 
in the last paragraph but one, leading to a restatement 
of the proposition in still broader terms. This is 
strengthened in the conclusion by the remark, that if 
the nation should escape from its desperate condition 
through some signal interposition of Divine Provi- 
dence, posterity would not believe the history of the 
times, or consider it possible that England should have 
survived a crisis " so full of terror and despair." 
2 (19) 



I 



20 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

the obedience of the subject will be voluntary, cheerful, 
and, I might say, almost unlimited. A generous nation 
is grateful even for the preservation of its rights, and 
willingly extends the respect due to the office of a good 
prince into an affection for his person. Loyalty, in 
the heart and understanding of an Englishman, is a 
rational attachment to the guardian of the laws. Prej- 
udices and passion have sometimes carried it to a 
criminal length, and, whatever foreigners may imagine, 
we know that Englishmen have erred as much in a 
mistaken zeal for particular persons and families, as 
they ever did in defense of what they thought most 
dear and interesting to themselves. 

It naturally fills us with resentment to see such a 
temper insulted and abused.* In reading the history 

* 2. We have here the starting point of the exordium, 
as it lay originally in the mind of Junius, viz., that 
the English nation was " insulted and abused ^^ by the 
king and ministers. But this was too strong a state- 
ment to be brought out abruptly. Junius therefore 
went back, and prepared the way by showing in suc- 
cessive sentences, (1.) Why a free people obey the laws — 
"because they have themselves enacted them.^^ (2.) 
That this obedience is ordinarily cheerful, and almost 
unlimited. (3.) That such obedience to the guardian of 
the laws naturally leads to a strong affection for his 
person. (4.) That this aifection (as shown in their 
history) had often been excessive among the English, 
who were, in fact, peculiarly liable to a " mistaken zeal 
for particular persons and families.^^ Hence they were 
equally liable (this is not said, but implied) to have 
their loyalty imposed upon; and therefore the feeling 
then so prevalent was well founded, that the king in 
his rash counsels and reckless choice of ministers, must 



LETTER. 21 

of a free people, whose rights have been invaded, we 
are interested in their cause. Our own feelings tell us 
how long they ought to have submitted, and at what 
moment it would have been treachery to themselves not 
to have resisted. How much warmer will be our 
resentment, if experience should bring the fatal exam- 
ple home to ourselves ! 

The situation of this country is alarming enough to 

have been taking advantage of the generous confidence 
of his people, and playing on the easiness of their 
temper. If so, they were indeed insulted and abused. 
The exordium, then, is a complete chain of logical 
deduction, and the case is fully made out, provided the 
popular feeling referred to was correct. And here we 
see where the fallacy of Junius lies, whenever he is in 
the wrong. It is in taking for granted one of the 
steps of his reasoning. He does not, in this case, even 
mention the feeling alluded to, in direct terms. He 
knew it was beating in the hearts of the people; his 
whole preceding train of thought was calculated to 
justify and inflame it, and he therefore leaps at once to 
the conclusion it involves, and addresses them as actually 
filled with resentment '^Ho see such a temper insulted 
and abused." The feeling, in this instance, was to a 
great extent well founded, and so far his logic is com- 
plete. In other cases his assumption is a false one. 
He lays hold of some slander of the day, some dis- 
torted statement of facts, some maxim which is only 
half true, some prevailing passion or prejudice, and 
dexterously intermingling them with a train of thought 
which in every other respect is logical and just, he 
hurries the mind to a conclusion which seems neces- 
sarily involved in the premises. Hardly any writer 
has so much art and plausibility in thus misleading 
the mind. 



22 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

rouse the attention of every man who pretends to a 
concern for the public welfare. Appearances justify 
suspicion ; and, when the safety of a nation is at stake, 
suspicion is a just ground of inquiry. Let us enter 
into it with candor and decency. Respect is due to the 
station of ministers ; and if a resolution must at last 
be taken, there is none so likely to be supported with 
firmness as that which has been adopted with modera- 
tion. 

The ruin or prosperity of a state depends so much 
upon the administration of its government, that, to be 
acquainted with the merit of a ministry, we need only 
observe the condition of the people. If we see them 
obedient to the laws, prosperous in their industry, 
united at home, and respected abroad, we may reason- 
ably presume that their affairs are conducted by men 
of experience, abilities, and virtue. If, on the contrary, 
we see a universal spirit of distrust and dissatisfaction, 
a rapid decay of trade, dissensions in all parts of the 
empire, and a total loss of respect in the eyes of foreign 
powers, we may pronounce, without hesitation, that the 
government of that country is weak, distracted, and 
corrupt. The multitude, in all countries, are patient 
to a certain point. Ill usage. may rouse their indigna- 
tion and hurry them into excesses, hut the original fault 
is in government.* Perhaps there never was an instance 

* 3. Here is the central idea of the letter — the prop-, 
osition to be proved in respect to the king and his 
ministers. The former part of this paragraph contains 
the major premise, the remainder the minor down to 
the last sentence, which brings out the conclusion in 
emphatic terms. In order to strengthen the minor, 



LETTER. 23 

of a change in the circumstances and temper of a 
whole nation, so sudden and extraordinary as that 
which the misconduct of ministers has, within these 
very few years, produced in Great Britain. When our 
gracious sovereign ascended the throne, we were a 
flourishing and a contented people. If the personal vir- 
tues of a king could have insured the happiness of his 
subjects, the scene could not have altered so entirely as 
it has done. The idea of uniting all parties, of trying 
all characters, and distributing the of&ces of state by 
rotation, was gracious and benevolent to an extreme, 
though it has not yet produced the many salutary eifects 
which were intended by it. To say nothing of the 
wisdom of such plan, it undoubtedly arose from an 
unbounded goodness of heart, in which folly had no 
share. It was not a capricious partiality to new faces ; 
it was not a natural turn for low intrigue, nor was it 
the treacherous amusement of double and triple negotia- 
tions. No, sir ; it arose from a continued anxiety in the 
purest of all possible hearts for the general welfare.* 

which was the most important premise, he rapidly 
contrasts the condition of England before and after the 
king ascended the throne. In doing this, he dilates on 
those errors of the king which led to, and which 
account for, so remarkable a change. Thus the conclu- 
sion is made doubly strong. This union of severe logic 
with the finest rhetorical skill in filling out the premi- 
ses and giving them their utmost effect, furnishes an 
excellent model for the student in oratory. 

*4. In this attack on the king, there is a refined 
artifice, rarely if ever equaled, in leading the mind 
gradually forward from the slightest possible insinua- 
tion to the bitterest irony. First we have the " uniting 



24 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

Unfortunately for us, the event has not been answerable 
to the design. After a rapid succession of changes, we 
are reduced to that change which hardly any change 
can mend. Yet there is no extremity of distress which 
of itself ought to reduce a great nation to despair. It 

of all parties/' which is proper and desirable; next 
"trying all characters/' which suggests decidedly a 
want of judgment; then "distributing the offices of 
state by rotation,''^ a charge rendered plausible, at least, 
by the frequent changes of ministers, and involving (if 
true) a weakness little short of absolute fatuity. The 
way being thus prepared, what was first insinuated is 
now openly expressed in the next sentence. The word 
"/o%'' is applied to the conduct of the king of Eng- 
land in the face of his subjects, and the application 
rendered doubly severe by the gravest irony. Still, 
there is one relief. Allusion is made to his " unbounded 
goodness of heart,'' from which, in the preceding chain 
of insinuations, these errors of judgment had been 
deduced. The next sentence takes this away. It 
directly ascribes to the king, with an increased severity 
of ironical denial, some of the meanest passions of 
royalty, " a capricious partiality for new faces," a "natu- 
ral love of low intrigue/' "the treacherous amusement 
of double and triple negotiations ! " It is unnecessary to 
remark on the admirable precision and force of the 
language in these expressions, and, indeed, throughout 
the whole passage. There had been just enough in the 
king's conduct, for the last seven years, to make the 
people suspect all this, and to weaken or destroy their 
affection for the crown. It was all connected with that 
system of favoritism introduced by Lord Bute, which 
the nation so much abhorred. Nothing but this would 
have made them endure for a moment such an attack 
on their monarch, and especially the absolute mockery 
with which Junius concludes the whole, by speaking of 



LETTER. 25 

is not the disorder, but the physician ; it is not a casual 
concurrence of calamitous circumstances, it is the per- 
nicious hand of government, which alone can make a 
whole people desperate. 

Without much political sagacity, or any extraordi- 
nary depth of observation, Ave need only mark how 
the principal departments of the state are bestowed 
[distributed], and look no farther for the true cause of 
every mischief that Uefalls us. 

The finances of a nation, sinking under its debts and 
expenses, are committed to a young nobleman already 
ruined by play.* Introduced to act under the auspices 

" the anxiety of the purest of all possible hearts for the 
general welfare!" His entire Letter to the king, 
with all the rancor ascribed to it by Burke, dops not 
contain so much bitterness and insult as are concentrated 
in this single passage. While we can not but condemn 
its spirit, we are forced to acknowledge that there is in 
this and many other passages of Junius, a rhetorical 
skill in the evolution of thought which was never sur- 
passed by Demosthenes. 

* 5. The Duke of Grafton, first Lord of the Treasury. 
It is unnecessary to remark on the dexterity of connect- 
ing with this mention of a treasury, '^ sinking under 
its debts and expenses,''" the idea of its head being a 
gambler loaded with his own debts, and liable contin- 
ually to new distresses and temptations from his love 
of play. The thought is wisely left here. The argu- 
ment which it implies would be weakened by any 
attempt to expand it. Junius often reminds us of the 
great Athenian orator, in thus striking a single blow, 
and then passing on to some other subject, as he does 
here to the apostasy of the Duke of Grafton, his incon- 
sistency, caprice, and irresolution. 



26 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

of Lord Chatham, and left at the head of affairs by 
that nobleman's retreat, lie became a minister by acci- 
dent; but, deserting the principles and professions 
which gave him a moment's popularity, we see him, 
from every honorable engagement to the public, an 
apostate by design. As for business, the world yet 
knows nothing of his talents or resolution, unless a 
wavering, wayward inconsistency be a mark of genius, 
and caprice a demonstration of spirit. It may be said, 
perhaps, that it is his Grace's province, as surely as it 
is his passion, rather to distribute than to save the 
public money, and that while Lord North is Chancellor 
of the Exchequer, the first Lord of the Treasury may 
be as thoughtless and extravagant as he pleases. I 
hope, however, he will not rely too much on the fertility 
of Lord North's genius for finance. His Lordship is 
yet to give us the first proof of his abilities. 

It may be candid to suppose that he has hitherto 
voluntarily concealed his talents; intending, perhaps, 
to astonish the world, when we least expect it, with a 
knowledge of trade, a choice of expedients, and a depth 
of resources equal to the necessities, and far beyond 
the hopes of his country. He must now exert the 
whole power of his capacity, if he would wish us to 
forget that, since he has been in office, no plan has 
been formed, no system adhered to, nor any one impor- 
tant measure adopted for the relief of public credit. 
If his plan for the service of the current year be not 
irrevocably fixed on, let me warn him to think serious- 
ly of consequences before he ventures to increase the 
public debt. Outraged and oppressed as we are, this 
nation will not bear, after a six years' peace, to see new 



LETTER. 27 

millions borrowed, without any eventual diminution of 
debt or reduction of interest. The attempt might 
rouse a spirit of resentment, which might reach beyond 
the sacrifice of a minister. As to the debt upon the 
civil list, the people of England expect that it will not 
be paid without a strict inquiry how it was incurred.* 
If it must be paid by Parliament, let me advise the 
Chancellor of the Exchequer to think of some better 
expedient than a lottery. To support an expensive 
war, or in circumstances of absolute necessity, a lottery 
may perhaps be allowable ; but, besides that it is at all 
times the very worst way of raising money upon the 
people, I think it ill becomes the royal dignity to have 
the debts of a prince provided for, like the repairs of 
a country bridge or a decayed hospital. The manage- 
ment of the king's afiliirs in the House of Commons 
can not be more disgraced than it has been. A leading 
minister repeatedly called down for absolute ignorance 
— ridiculous motions ridiculously withdrawn — deliber- 
ate plans disconcerted, and a week's preparation of 

* 6. Within about seven years, the king had run up 
a debt of £513,000 beyond the ample allowance made 
for his expenses on the civil list, and had just applied, 
at the opening of Parliament, for a grant to pay it off. 
The nation were indignant at such overreaching. The 
debt, however, was paid this session, and in a few years 
there was another contracted. Thus it went on, from 
time to time, until 1782, when £300,000 more were 
paid, in addition to a large sum during the interval. 
At this time a partial provision was made, in connec- 
tion with Mr. Burke's plan of economical reform, for 
preventing all future encroachments of this kind on 
the public revenues. 



28 JUNIUS UNMA8KED. 

graceful oratory lost in a moment^ give us some, though 
not an adequate idea of Lord North^s parliamentary 
abilities and influence.* Yet, before he had the mis- 
fortune of being Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was 
neither an object of derision to his enemies, nor of 
melancholy pity to his friends. 

A series of inconsistent measures has alienated the 
colonies from their duty as subjects and from their 
natural affection to their common country. When Mr. 
Grenville was placed at the head of the treasury, he 
felt the impossibility of Great Britain^s supporting such 
an establishment as her former successes had made in- 
dispensable, and, at the same time, of giving any sensi- 
ble relief to foreign trade and to the weight of the 
public debt. He thought it equitable that those parts 
of the empire which had benefited most by the ex- 
penses of i\\Q, war, should contribute something to the 
expenses of the peace, and he had no doubt of the con- 
stitutional right vested in Parliament to raise the con- 
tribution. But, unfortunately for this country, Mr. 
Grenville was at any rate to be distressed because he 
was minister, and Mr. Pitt and Lord Camden were to 
be patrons of America, because they were in opposi- 
tion. Their declaration gave spirit and argument to 
the colonies; and while, perhaps, they meant no more 
than the ruin of a minister, they in effect divided one- 
half of the empire from the other.f 

* 7. Notwithstanding these early difficulties, Lord 
North became at last a very dexterous and effective 
debater. 

fS. This attack on Lord Chatham and his friend 
shows the political affinities of Junius. He believed 



LETTER. 29 

Under one administration the Stamp Act is made, 
under the second it is repealed, under the third, in spite 
of all experience, a new mode of taxing the colonies is 
invented, and a question revived, which ought to have 
been buried in oblivion. In these circumstances, a new 
office is established for the business of the Plantations, 

with Mr. Grenville and Lord Rockingham in the right 
of Great Britain to tax America ; and in referring to 
Mr. Grenville's attempt to enforce that right by the 
Stamp Act, he adopts his usual course of interweaving 
an argument in its favor into the language used.^ He 
thus prepares the way for his censures on Lord Chat- 
ham and Lord Camden, affirming that they acted on 
the principle that ^^ Mr. Grenville was at any rate to 
be distressed because he was minister and they were 
in opposition," thus implying that they were actuated 
by factious and selfish views in their defense of America. 
About a year after this letter was written, Lord Rock- 
ingham was reconciled to Lord Chatham and Lord 
Camden, and all united to break dowu the Grafton 
ministry. Junius now turned round and wrote his cel- 
ebrated eulogium on Lord Chatliam, contained in his 
fifty-fourth letter, in which he says, '^ Recorded honors 
shall gather round his monument, and thicken over 
him. It is a solid fabric, and will support the laurels 
that adorn it. I am not conversant in the language 
of panegyric. These praises are extorted from me; 
but they will wear well, for they have been dearly 
earned." The last of his letters was addressed to Lord 
Camden, in which he says, " I turn with pleasure from 
that barren waste, in which no salutary plant takes root, 
no verdure quickens, to a character fertile, as I wil- 
lingly believe, in every great and good qualification." 
Political men have certainly a peculiar faculty of view- 
ing the characters of others under very different lights, 
as they happen to affect their own interests and feelings.^ 



BO JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

and the Earl of Hillsborough called forth^ at a most 
critical season, to govern America. The choice at least 
announced to us a man of superior capacity and knowl- 
edge. Whether he be so or not, let his dispatches as 
far as they have appeared^ let his measures as far as 
they have operated, determine for him. In the former 
we have seen strong assertions without proof, declama- 
tion without argument, and violent censures without 
dignity or moderation, but neither correctness in the 
composition, nor judgment in the design. As for his 
measures, let it be remembered that he was called upon 
to conciliate and unite, and that, when he entered into 
office, the most refractory of the colonies were still dis- 
posed to proceed by the constitutional methods of peti- 
tion and remonstrance. Since that period they have 
been driven into excesses little short of rebellion. Pe- 
titions have been hindered from reaching the throne, 
and the continuance of one of the principal assemblies 
put upon an arbitrary condition, which, considering the 
temper they were in, it was impossible they should com- 
ply with, and which would have availed nothing as to 
the general question if it had been complied with.* 
So violent, and I believe I may call it so unconstitu- 
tional an exertion of the prerogative, to say nothing of 
the weak, injudicious terms in which it was conveyed, 
gives us as humble an opinion of his Lordship's capaci- 

* 9. The ^^ arbitrary condition '^ was that the General 
Court of Massachusetts should rescind one of their own 
resolutions and expunge it from their records. The 
whole of this passage in relation to Hillsborough is as 
correct in point of fact, as it is well reasoned and finely 
expressed. 



LETTER. 31 

ty as it does of his temper and moderation. While we 
are at peace with other nations^ our military force may 
perhaps be spared to support the Earl of Hillsborough's 
measures in America. Whenever that force shall be 
necessarily withdrawn or diminished, the dismission of 
such a minister will neither console us for his impru- 
dence, nor remove the settled resentment of a people, 
who, complaining of an act of the legislature, are out- 
raged by an unwarrantable stretch of prerogative, and, 
supporting their claims by argument, are insulted with 
declamation. 

Drawing lots would be a prudent and reasonable 
method of appointing the officers of state, compared to 
a late disposition of the secretary's office. Lord Koch- 
ford was acquainted with the affairs and temper of the 
Southern courts; Lord Weymouth was equally quali- 
fied for either department. By what unaccountable 
caprice has it happened, that the latter, who pretends 
to no experience whatsoever, is removed to the most 
important of the two departments, and the former, by 
preference, plackl in an office where his experience can 
be of no use to him?* Lord Weymouth had distin- 
guished himself in his first employment by a spirited, 

* 10. The changes here censured had taken place about 
three months before. The office of Foreign Secretary 
for the Southern Department was made vaqant by the 
resignation of Lord Shelburne.^ Lord Rochford, who 
had been minister to France, and thus made "acquainted 
with the temper of the Southern courts," ought natu- 
rally to have been appointed (if at all) to this depart- 
ment. Instead of this he was made Secretary of the 
Northern Department, for which he had been prepar^ 
by no previous knowledge ; while Lord Weymouth was 



32 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

if not judicious conduct. He had animated the civil 
magistrate beyond the tone of civil authority, and had 
directed the operations of the army to more than mil- 
itary execution. Recovered from the errors of bis 
youth, from the distraction of play, and the bewitching 
smiles of Burgundy, behold him exerting the whole 
strength of his clear, unclouded faculties in the service 
of the crown. It was not the heat of midnight ex- 
cesses, nor ignorance of the laws, nor the furious spirit 
of the house of Bedford ; no, sir ; when this respecta- 
ble minister interposed his authority between the 
magistrate and the people, and signed the mandate on 
wliich, for aught he knew, the lives of thousands de- 
pended, he did it from the deliberate motion of his 
heart, supported by the best of his judgment.* 

taken from the Home Department, and placed in the 
Southern, being *' equally qualified ^^ [that is, wholly 
unqualified by any "experience whatsoever'^] for either 
department in the Foreign office, whether Southern or 
Northern. ^ 

*11. As Secretary of the Home Department, Lord 
Weymouth had addressed a letter to the magistrates of 
London, early in 1768, advising them to call in the 
military, provided certain disturbances in the streets 
should continue. The idea of setting the soldiery to 
fire on masses of unarmed men has always been abhor- 
rent to the English nation. It was, therefore, a case 
admirably suited to the purposes of this Letter. In 
using it to inflame the people against Lord Weymouth, 
Junius charitably supposes that he was not repeating 
the errors of his youth — that he was neither drunk, nor 
ignorant of what he did, nor impelled by "the furious 
spirit '^ of one of the proudest families of the realm — 



LETTER. 33 

It has lately been a fashion to pay a compliment to 
the bravery and generosity of the Commander-in-chief 
[the Marquess of Granby] at the expense of his under- 
standing. They who love him least make no question 
of his courage, while his friends dwell chiefly on the 
facility of his disposition. Admitting him to be as 
brave as a total absence of all feeling and reflection can 
make him, let us see what sort of merit he derives from 
the remainder of his character. If it be generosity to 
accumulate in his own person and family a number of 
lucrative employments; to provide, at the public ex- 
pense, for every creature that bears the name of Man- 
ners; and, neglecting the merit and services of the rest 
of the army, to heap promotions upon his favorites and 
dependents, the present Commander-in-chief is the most 
generous man alive. Nature has been sparing of her 
gifts to this noble lord; but where birth and fortune 

all of which Lord Weymouth would certainly say — 
and therefore (which his Lordship must also admit) 
that he did, from " the deliberate motion of his heart, 
supported by the best of his judgment,^^ sign a paper 
which the great body of the people considered as author- 
izing promiscuous murder, and which actually resulted 
in the death of fourteen persons three weeks after. 
The whole is so wrought up as to create the feeling, 
that Lord Weymouth was in both of these states of 
mind — that he acted with deliberation in carrying out 
the dictates of headlong or drunken passion. 

All this, of course, is greatly exaggerated. Severe 
measures did seem indispensable to suppress the mobs 
of that day, and, whoever stood forth to direct them, 
must of necessity incur the popular indignation. Still, 
it was a question among the most candid men, whether 
milder means might not have been effectual. 



34 JUNIUS UNMASKED. ' 

are united, we expect the noble pride and independence 
of a man of spirit, not the servile, humiliating com- 
plaisance of a courtier. As to the goodness of his heart, 
if a proof of it be taken from the facility of never refus- 
ing, Avhat conclusion shall we draw from the indecency 
of never performing? And if the discipline of the army 
be in any degree preserved, what thanks are due to a 
man whose cares, notoriously confined to filling up va- 
cancies, have degraded the office of Commander-in-chief 
into [that of] a broker of commissions.^ 

With respect to the navy, I shall only say that this 
country is so highly indebted to Sir Edward HawdvC, 



*12. The Marquess of Granby, personally considered, 
was perhaps the most popular member of the cabinet, 
with the exception of Sir Edward Hawke. He was a 
warm-hearted man, of highly social qualities and gener- 
ous feelings. As it was the object of Junius to break 
down the ministry, it was peculiarly necessary for him 
to blast and destroy his popularity. This he attempts 
to do by discrediting the character of the marquess, as 
a man of firmness, strength of mind, and disinterested- 
ness in managing i\\Q concerns of the army. This at- 
tack is distinguished for its plausibility and bitterness. 
It is clear that Junius was in. some way connected with 
the army or with the War Department, and that in this 
situation he had not only the means of very exact in- 
formation, but some private grudge against the Com- 
mander-in-chief."^ His charges and insinuations are 
greatly overstrained; but it is certain that the army 
was moldering away at this time in a manner which left 
the country in a very defenseless condition. Lord Chat- 
ham showed this by incontestible evidence, in his speech 
on the Falkland Islands, delivered about a year after 
this Letter was written. 



LETTER. 35 

that no expense shoold be spared to secure him an hon- 
orable and affluent retreat. 

The pure and impartial administration of justice is 
perhaps the firmest bond to secure a cheerful submission 
of the people, and to engage their affections to govern- 
ment. It is not sufficient that questions of private 
right or wrong are justly decided, nor that judges are 
superior to the vileness of pecuniary corruption. Jef- 
fries himself, when the court had no interest, w^as an 
upright judge. A court of justice may be subject to an- 
other sort of bias, more important and pernicious, as it 
reaches beyond the interest of individuals and affects 
the whole community. A judge, under the influence 
of government, may be honest enough in the decision 
of private causes, yet a traitor to the public. When a 
victim is marked out by the ministry, this judge will 
offer himself to perform the sacrifice. He will not 
scruple to prostitute his dignity, and betray the sanctity 
of his office, whenever an arbitrary point is to be car- 
ried for government, or the resentment of a court to be 
gratified. 

These principles and proceedings, odious and con- 
temptible as they are, in effect are no less injudicious. 
A wise and generous people are roused by every appear- 
ance of oppressive, unconstitutional measures, whether 
those measures are supported openly by the power of 
government, or masked under the forms of a court of 
justice. Prudence and self-preservation will oblige the 
most moderate dispositions to make common cause, even 
with a man whose conduct they censure, if they see him 
persecuted in a way which the real spirit of the laws 
3 



36 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

will not justify. The facts on which these remarks are 
founded are too notorious to require an application.* 

This, sir, is the detail. In one view, behold a nation 
overwhelmed with debt; her revenues wasted ; her trade 
declining; the affections of her colonies alienated; the 
duty of the magistrate transferred to the soldiery; a 
gallant army, which never fought unwillingly but 
against their fellow-subjects, moldering away for want 
of the direction of a man of common abilities and spirit; 
and, in the last instance, the administration of justice 
become odious and suspected to the whole body of the 
people. This deplorable scene admits of but one addi- 
tion — that we are governed by counsels, from wdiich a 

*13. It is unnecessary to say that Lord Mansfield is 
here pointed at. No one now believes that this great 
jurist ever did the things here ascribed to him by Jun- 
ius.^ All that is true is, that he was a very high 
Tory, and was, therefore, naturally led to exalt the pre- 
rogatives of the crown ; and that he was a very politic 
man (and this was the great failing in his character), 
and therefore unwilling to oppose the king or his min- 
isters, when he knew in heart they were wrong. This 
was undoubtedly the case in respect to the issuing of a 
general warrant for apprehending Wilkes, which he 
ought publicly to have condemned ; but, as he remained 
silent, men naturally considered him, in his character 
of Chief Justice, as having approved of the course di- 
rected by the king. Hence Mansfield was held respon- 
sible for the treatment of Wilkes, of whom Junius here 
speaks in very nearly the terms used by Lord Chatham, 
as a man whose " conduct" he censured, but with whom 
every moderate man must " make common cause," when 
he was "persecuted in a way which the real spirit of 
the laws will not justify." 



LETTER, 37 

reasonable man can expect no remedy but poison, no 
relief but death. If, by tlie immediate interposition of 
Providence, it were [be] possible for us to escape a crisis 
so full of terror and despair, posterity will not believe 
the history of the present times. They will either con- 
clude that our distresses were imaginary, or that we had 
the good fortune to be governed by men of acknowl- 
edged integrity and wisdom. They will not believe it 
possible that their ancestors could have survived or re- 
covered from so desperate a condition, while a Duke of 
Grafton was Prime Minister, a Lord North Chancellor 
of the Exchequer, a Weymouth and a Hillsborough 
Secretaries of State, a Granby Commander-in-chief, and 
a Mansfield chief criminal judge of the kingdom. 

Junius. 



COMMENTS ON THE DOCTOR'S NOTES. 

Note S, p. 28. (1.) The doctor is here in error. 
In no place does Junius use language which can even 
be distorted into an argument in favor of enforcing the 
right to tax America. He here attacks the opposition 
or minority because they had from selfish motives di- 
vided one-half of the empire from the other. He states 
the views of Mr. Grenville on the subject of taxing the 
colonies^ but not his oivn. Elsewhere, however, he does, 
and this is his language: "Junius considers the right 
of taxing the colonies by an act of the British Legisla- 
ture as a speculative right merely, never to be exerted, 
nor ever to be renounced. ^^ — Let. 63. But Camden and 
Pitt denied the right — Bancroft, vol. v., pp. 395, 403. 
Junius stood between the two parties in regard to 
taxing the colonies, hence could not be a partisan. 

(2.) Here again is an error. Rockingham and Chat- 
ham led the two wings of the minority. The former 
was in favor of septennial, the latter of triennial 
parliaments. — Let. 52. Herein Junius agreed with 
Chatham, and hence could not be a partisan of Rocking- 
ham. — Let. 53. But because Junius eulogized Chat- 
ham, he was said to be a partisan of Chatham, which 
he afterwards contradicts when he compiled his letters, 
in a note to the name of Mr. Pitt in his first letter, and 
(38) 



COMMENTS. 39 

is as follows : ^' And yet Junius has been called the 
partisan of Lord Chatham." In Letter 53, Junius 
denies partisanship to both. Neither did he agree with 
Lord Camden, and mildly censures him for his action. 
— Let. 59. Junius was never a partisan, as will be 
fully proven hereafter. This shows how limited a 
knowledge the doctor had of Junius, and also how 
unfit to comment on these matters of fact. He had not 
even caught the design or spirit of Junius. He was 
advocating the cause of the people and not the cause 
of any party or faction. 

Note 10, p. 31. (3.) Shelburne was dismissed; he 
did not resign. This is a grave error in the doctor, 
when the conduct of king and ministers is the theme, 
and when we are studying the motives and character 
of the writer. As I wish to excite inquiry, in the 
mind of the reader, to lead him to a just method of 
criticism and investigation, I will briefly state how 
I detected even so apparently trifling a mistake as 
the above. The first sentence of the paragraph is as 
follows: "Drawing lots would be a prudent and 
reasonable method of appointing the ofiicers of state 
compared to a late disposition of the secretary's oflice." 
After reading this, and then the note, it occurred to me 
that the king should not be so severely censured 
for any mistake in judgment in filling an office sud- 
denly left vacant by a resignation. If the writer did 
so he was malignant, and ought to be condemned by all 
liberal-minded and good people. And after having 
studied thoroughly the character of Mr. Paine, for 
I now supposed him to be the author, I said : al- 
though the language is his, the spirit is not. I confess 



40 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

this staggered me not a little^ but in a few moments I 
regained myself^ after reading these lines from Ban- 
croft's History, vol. vi., pp. 214, 215, 216: "Yield- 
ing to the daily importunities of the king, Grafton 
prepared to dismiss Shelburne. . . . Shelburne was 
removed. The resignation of Chatham instantly fol- 
lowed The removal of Shelburne opened 

the cabinet to the ignorant and incapable Earl of Roch- 
ford, who owed his selection to the mediocrity of his 
talents and the impossibility of finding a secretary 
of state more thoroughly submissive." This was satis- 
factory to me. What was evidence against my hy- 
pothesis by the note of Doctor Goodrich, was evidence 
in favor of it when the facts Avere known. This shows 
how careless men become who do not have in view 
a scientific method, and who do not search after the 
soul of things, but content themselves with a super- 
ficial reading. I would here warn the reader to ques- 
tion the statement of any writer which does not come 
with more than a plausible degree of truth. The day 
of historic fable is past. History is a science. The 
man of science takes but little on authority not capable 
of proof, and it is through this scientific method that 
the humblest mind, capable of rational judgment, 
becomes supreme over itself. 

Note 12, p. 34. (4.) That Junius had a private grudge 
against Lord Granby, is an affirmation not suj^ported 
by the facts. Junius himself says, in a note to Let- 
ter 7 : '^The death of Lord Granby was lamented by 
Junius. He undoubtedly owed some compensations to 
the public, and seemed determined to acquit himself of' 
them. In private life he was unquestionably that good 



COMMENTS. 41 

man, who, for the interest of his country, ought to 
have been a great one. I speak of him now without 
partiality. I never spoke of him tvith resentment. His 
mistakes in public conduct did not arise either from 
want of sentiment, or want of judgment, but in general 
from the difficulty of saying 7io to the bad people who 
surrounded him.'^ 

Note 13, p. 36. (5.) To which I reply: every student 
of history does believe just the things ascribed to Lord 
Mansfield by Junius, and as the doctor has given us 
no authority in support of his rash affirmation, I will 
dismiss him to the tender mercies of those who will 
search for themselves. 



ESTIMATE OF JUNIUS, BY MR. BURKE.* 

How comes this JuKius to have broke through the 
cobwebs of the ]aw, and to range uncontrolled, un- 
punished, through the land ? The myrmidons of the 
court have been long, and are still, pursuing him in 
vain. They will not spend their time upon me, or 
you, or you. No; they disdain such vermin, when 
the mighty boar of the forest that has broken through 
all their toils, is before them. But what will all their 
efforts avail? No sooner has he wounded one than he 
lays another dead at his feet. For my part, when I 
saw his attack upon the king, I own my blood ran 
cold. I thought that he had ventured too far,- and 
there was an end of his triumphs. Not that he had 
not asserted many truths. Yes, sir, there are in that 
composition many bold truths, by which a wise prince 
might profit. It was the rancor and venom with 
which I was struck. In these respects the North 
Briton is as much inferior to him as in strencrth, wit, 
and judgment. But while I expected in this daring 
flight his final ruin and fall, behold him rising still 
higher, and coming down souse upon both houses of 
Parliament. Yes, he did make you his quarry, and 

*rrom a speech delivered in the House of Commons. 
(42) 



ESTIMATE BY MR. BUBKE. 43 

you still bleed /rom the wounds of his talons. You 
crouched, and still crouch, beneath his rage. Nor has 
he dreaded the terrors of your brow, sir ;* he has at- 
tacked even you — he has — and I believe you have no 
reason to triumph in the encounter. In short, after 
carrying away our Royal Eagle in his pounces, and 
dashing him against a rock, he has laid you pros- 
trate. Kings, Lords, and Commons are but the sport 
of his fury. Were he a member of this House, what 
might not be expected from his knowledge, his firm-' 
ness, and integrity ? He would be easily known by his 
contempt of all danger, by his penetration, by his vigor. 
Nothing would escape his vigilance and activity. Bad 
ministers could conceal nothing from his sagacity ; 
nor could promises or threats induce him to conceal 
any thing from the public. 

* Sir Fletcher Norton, Speaker of the House, was 
distinguished for the largeness of his overhanging eye- 
brows. 



SOCIAL POSITION. 

What was the position of Joniiis in society? Was 
he a man of fortune or of hnmble means? Was he a 
peer, or the leader of a party or faction, or was he one 
of the common people? Let Junius tell. In his reply 
to Sir William Draper, he says: '"^I will not contend 
with you in point of composition — you are a scholar, 
Sir William, and, if I am truly informed, you write 
Latin with almost as much purity as English. Suffer 
me then (for I am a plain, unlettered man) to continue 
that style of interrogation which suits my capacity.^^ — 
Let. 7. In the following the italics are Junius\ He 
had been upbraided by Sir William, for his assumed sig- 
nature, and replied: "I should have hoped that even 
my name might carry some authority with it, if I had 
not seen how very little weight or consideration a 
printed paper receives, even from the respectable signa- 
ture of Sir William Draper.'^— Let. 3. Again, he says: 
" Mine, I confess, are humble labors. I do not presume 
to instruct the learned, but simply to inform the body 
of the people, and I prefer that channel of conveyance 
which is likely to spread farthest among theni.^^ — Let. 
22. Again: ^^Welbore Ellis, what say you? Is this 
the law of Parliament, or is it not? I am a plain man, 
sir, and can not follow you through the phlegmatic forms 
of an oration. Speak out, Gildrig! Say yes or no." — 
(44) 



SOCIAL POSITION. 45 

Let. 47. Again: '^I speak to the people as one of the 
people." — Let. 58. In Let. 57 he says he is a ^^ stranger " 
to the Livery of London. He says, also, in Let. 25, to 
Sir William Draper: ''I believe, sir, you will never 
know me. A considerable time must certainly elapse 
before we are personally acquainted." This language is 
not equivocal. They neither of them personally knew 
the other. In Let. 18 he says he is not personally 
known to Mr. Grenville, a member of the House of 
Commons. Nor was he a collegian or lawyer. In Let. 
53 he says: ''I speak to facts with which all of us are 
conversant. I speak to men and to their experience, 
and will not descend to answer the little sneering soph- 
istries of a collegian." And again: "This may be 
logic at Cambridge, or at the treasury, but among men 
of sense and honor it is folly or villainy in the ex- 
treme." In Let. 7 he says to Sir William Draper: 
'^An academical education has given you an unlimited 
command over the most beautiful figures of speech. 
Masks, hatchets, racks, and vipers dance through your 
letters in all the mazes of metaphorical confusion." This 
is one of Junius' most withering sarcasms. In his Pre- 
face he says : " I am no lawyer by profession, nor do I 
pretend to be more deeply read than every English gen- 
tleman should be in the laws of his country." 
"I speak to the plain understanding of the people, and 
appeal to their honest, liberal construction of me." And 
of the Letters he says in the Dedication: "To me, orig- 
inally, they owe nothing but a healthy, sanguine con- 
stitution." 

Now, from the above facts, and the method of elimi- 
nation, it may be affirmed, Junius was not prominent be- 



4g JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

fore the Euglisli nation. He was not a peer, nor mem- 
ber of the House of Commons. He could not have 
been an army officer. He was not a collegian, nor a 
lawyer. What, then, was he? Just what he says him- 
self to be : " one of the common people, with a healthy, 
sanguine constitution," but by no means without genius, 
education, and practical knowledge. 



JUNIUS NOT A PAETISAN. 

But let ns continue tlie method of elimination till 
we find his true position. Because we can not safely 
affirm what he was, till we know in some particulars, 
what he was not; and it is thus the spirit and object of 
Junius may be made visible. I affirm, therefore, Ju- 
nius was not a partisan. In proof of which I submit 
the following, from Let. 58, to the study of the reader : 

"'No man laments more sincerely than I do the un- 
happy differences which have arisen among the friends 
of the people, and divided them from each other. The 
cause, undoubtedly, suffers as well by the diminution 
of that strength which union carries along with it, as by 
the separate loss of personal reputation, which every 
man sustains when his character and CQuduct are fre- 
quently held forth in odious or contemptible colors. 
The differences are only advantageous to the common 
enemy* of the country. The hearty friends of the cause 
are provoked and disgusted. The lukewarm advocate 
avails himself of any pretense, to relapse into that indo- 
lent indifference about every thing that ought to inter- 
est an Englishman, so unjustly dignified with the title 
of moderation. The false, insidious partisan, who cre- 
ates or foments the disorder, sees the fruit of his dis- 

*King, ministers, and parliament. 

(47) 



48 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

honest industry ripen beyond his hopes, and rejoices in 
the promise of a banquet, only delicious to such an ap- 
petite as his own. * It is time for those who really mean 
the Cause and the People, who have no view to private 
advantage, and who have virtue enough to prefer the 
general good of the community to the gratification of 
personal animosities — it is time for such men to inter- 
pose. Let us try whether these fatal dissensions may 
not yet be reconciled; or, if that be impracticable, let 
us guard, at least, against the worst effects of division, 
and endeavor to persuade these furious partisans, if they 
will not consent to draw together, to be separately use- 
ful to that cause which thej all pretend to be attached 
to. Honor and honesty must not be renounced, although 
a thousand modes of right and wrong were to occupy 
the degrees of morality between Zeno and Epicurus. 
The fundamental principles of Christianity may still be 
preserved, though every zealous sectary adheres to his 
own exclusive doctrine, and pious ecclesiastics make it 
a part of their religion to persecute one another. The 
civil constitution, too — that legal liberty, that general 
creed which every Englishman professes — may still be 
supported, though Wilkes and Home, and Townsend 
and Sawbridge, should obstinately refuse to communi- 
cate; and even if the fathers of the Church — if Saville, 
Richmond, Camden, Rockingham, and Chatham should 
disagree in the ceremonies of their political worship, 
and even in the interpretation of twenty texts of Magna 
Charta. I speak to the people as one of the people. 
Let us employ these men in whatever departments their 
various abilities are best suited to, and as much to the 
advantage of the common cause as their different incli- 



NOT A PARTISAN. 49 

nations ^Yill permit. They can not serve us without 
essentially serving themselves.'^ 

In the above Junius places himself on the side of 
the people, and clearly above all party or faction. 
But he continues : 

-' I have too much respect for the abilities of Mr. 
Home, to flatter myself that these gentlemen will ever 
be cordially re-united. It is not, however, unreason- 
able to expect, that each of them should act his separ- 
ate part with honor and integrity to the public. As 
for differences of opinion upon speculative questions, if 
we wait until they are reconciled, the action of human 
affairs must be suspended forever. But neither are we 
to look for perfection in any one man, nor for agree- 
ment among many. When Lord Chatham affirms 
that the authority of the British legislature is not su- 
preme over the colonies in the same sense in which it 
is supreme over Great Britain; when Lord Camden 
supposes a necessity (which the king is to judge of), 
and, founded upon that necessity, attributes to the 
crown a legal power (not given by the act itself) to 
suspend the operation of an act of the legislature, I 
listen to them both, with diffidence and respect, but 
without the smallest degree of conviction or assent. 
Yet I doubt not they delivered their real sentiments, 
nor ought they to be hastily condemned. ... I mean 
only to illustrate one useful proposition, which it is the 
intention of this paper to inculcate, ' That we should 
not generally reject the friendship or services of any 
man because he differs from us in a particular opinion.' 
This will not appear a superfluous caution, if we ob- 
serve the ordinary conduct of mankind. In public 



50 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

aifairs, there is the least chance of a perfect concur- 
rence of sentiment or inclination ; yet every man is 
able to contribute something to the common stock, 
and no man's contribution should be rejected. If 
individuals have no virtues, their vices may be of use 
to us. I care not with what principle the new-born 
patriot is animated, if the measures he supports are 
beneficial to the community. The nation is interested 
in his conduct. His motives are his own. The proper- 
ties of a patriot are perishable in the individual ; but 
there is a quick succession of subjects, and the breed is 
worth preserving. The spirit of the Americans may 
be an useful example to us. Our dogs and horses are 
only English upon English ground ; but patriotism, it 
seems, may be improved by transplanting. I will not 
reject a bill which tends to confine parliamentary 
privilege within reasonable bounds, though it should 
be stolen from the house of Cavendish, and introduced 
by Mr. Onslow. The features of the infant are a 
proof of the descent, and vindicate the ^ noble birth 
from the baseness of the adoption.* I will will- 

* That the reader may see the value Junius placed 
on such men as Onslow, I will place before him a 
short address of Junius to the king : " As you are 
a young man, sir, who ought to have a life of happi- 
ness in prospect ; as you are a husband, as you are a 
father (your filial duties I own have been religiously 
performed), is it bona fide for your interest or your 
honor, to sacrifice your domestic tranquillity, and to 
live in perpetual disagreement with your people, merely 
to preserve such a chain of beings as North, Barring- 
ton, Weymouth, Gower, Ellis, Onslow, Rigby, Jerry 
Dyson, and Sandwich? Their very names are a satire 



NOT A PABTISAN. 51 

ingly accept a sarcasm from Colonel Barrd,* or a 
simile from Mr. Biirke.f Even the silent vote of 
Mr. Calcraft is worth reckoning in a division. What 
though he riots in the plunder of the army, and has 
only determined to be a patriot when he could not be 
a peer ? Let us profit by the assistance of such men 
while they are with us, and place them, if it be possi- 
ble, in the post of danger to prevent desertion. The 
wary Wedderburne, the pompous Suffolk^ never threw 
away the scabbard, nor ever went upon a forlorn hope. 
They always treated the king's servants as men with 
whom, some time or other, they might probably be in 
friendship. When a man who stands forth for the 

upon all government, and I defy the gravest of your 
chaplains to read the catalogue without laughing.^' 

* Isaac Barr^ defended the colonies and opposed tlie 
Stamp Act in the House of Commons with ^'a display 
of eloquence, which astonished all who heard him.'' 
When the ministry in 1771 tried to suppress the prac- 
tice of reporting the parliamentary debates, he de- 
nounced them and the House of Commons in the 
strongest and most sarcastic terms ; and after closing 
his speech he " left the house, calling upon every honest 
man to follow him." The letters of Junius were 
afterwards attributed to him. 

t "J. simile from Jfr. Burked One is here forcibly 
reminded how prophetic this sarcasm is of what Mr. 
Paine will say in liis Rights of Man, of Mr. Burke's 
imagery : ^^ I have now to follow Mr. Burke through a 
pathless wilderness of rhapsodies.'' . . . '^ His inten- 
tion was to make an attack on the French revolution ; 
but instead of proceeding with an orderly arrangement 
he has stormed it with a mob of ideas, tumbling over 
and destroying one another." 
4 



52 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

public, has gone that length from which there is no 
practicable retreat, when he has given that kind of 
personal offense, which a pious monarch never par- 
dons, 1 then begin to think him in earnest, and that he 
will never have occasion to solicit the forgiveness of 
his country. But instances of a determination so en- 
tire and unreserved are rarely to be met with. Let 
us take mankind as they are ; let us distribute the vir- 
tues and abilities of individuals, according to the of- 
fices they affect; and when they quit the service, let 
us endeavor to supply their places with better men 
than we have lost. In this country there are always 
candidates enough for popular favor. The temple 
of fame is the shortest passage to riches and prefer- 
ment. 

Above all things, let me guard my countrymen 
against the meanness and folly of accepting of a trifling 
or moderate compensation for extraordinary and essen- 
tial injuries. Our enemy treats us as the cunning 
trader does the unskillful Indian ; they magnify their 
generosity, when they give us baubles of little propor- 
tionate value for ivory and gold. The same House of 
Commons who robbed the constituent body of their 
right of free election; who presume to make a law, un- 
der pretense of declaring it; who paid our good king's 
debts, without once inquiring how they were incurred; 
who gave thanks for repeated murders committed at 
home, and for national infamy incurred abroad; who 
screened Lord Mansfield; who imprisoned the magis- 
trates of the metropolis for asserting the subjects' right 
to the protection of the laws ; who erased a judicial rec- 
ord, and ordered all proceedings in criminal suit to be 



NOT A PARTISAN. 53 

suspended ; this very House of Commons have gracious- 
ly consented that their own members may be compelled 
to pay their debts, and that contested elections shall, 
for the future, be determined with some decent regard 
to the merits of the case. The event of the suit is of 
no consequence to the crown. While parliaments are 
septennial, the purchase of the sitting member or of the 
petitioner, makes but the difference of a day. Conces- 
sions such as these, are of little moment to the sum of 
things; unless it be to prove that the worst of men are 
sensible of the injuries they have done us, and perhaps 
to demonstrate to us the imminent danger of our situa- 
tion. In the shipwreck of the state, trifles float, and 
are preserved; while every thing solid and valuable 
sinks to the bottom, and is lost forever." 

Nor did Junius ever receive pay for his writings. 
The charges made against him are thus briefly disposed 
of: ^^ To write for profit, without taxing the press ; to 
write for fame, and to be unknown ; to support the in- 
trigues of faction, and to be disowned as a dangerous 
auxiliary by every party in the kingdom, are contra- 
dictions which the minister must reconcile before I for- 
feit my credit with the public. I may quit the service, 
but it would be absurd to charge me with desertion. 
The reputation of these papers is an honorable pledge 

for my attachment to the people But, 

in truth, sir, I have left no room for an accommodation 
with the piety of St. James'. My offenses are not to 
be redeemed by recantation or repentance. On one 
side, our warmest patriots would disclaim me as a bur- 
then to their honest ambition. On the other, the vilest 



54 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

prostitution, if Junius could descend to it, would lose 
its natural merit and influence in the cabinet, and 
treachery be no longer a recommendation to the royal 
favor/' — Let. 44. " He is not paid for his labor, and 
certainly has a right to choose his employment.^' — Let. 
63. " As for myself, it is no longer a question whether 
I shall mix with the throng and take a single share in 
the danger. Whenever Junius appears he must en- 
counter a host of enemies. But is there no honorable 
way to serve the public without engaging in personal 
quarrels with insignificant individuals, or submitting to 
the drudgery of canvassing votes for an election ? Is 
there no merit in dedicating my life to the information 
of my fellow-subjects? What public question have I 
declined? What villain have I spared? Is there no 
labor in the composition of these letters ?'' — Let. 53. 

In compiling the Letters, he says in his Preface: 
"The printer will readily acquit me of any view to 
my own profit. I undertake this troublesome task 
merely to serve a man who has deserved well 'of me and 
the public, and who, on my account, has been exposed 
to an expensive, tyrannical prosecution." This was Mr. 
Woodfall, publisher of the Public Advertiser. 

I am now prepared to ask: What, then, was the 
object of Junius? What does he mean by "The Cause 
and the People ".^ To what Cause has he " dedicated his 
life^^f and which, if he should desert, would be the 
^^ vilest prostitution f Why this great zeal and disin- 
terested benevolence ? Aloof from party, unknown to 
the public, writing for neither fame nor favor, what is 
the meaning of this literary adventurer? 



A REVOLUTIONIST. 

The object of Junius was to produce a revolution in 
England, to dethrone the king, depose the ministry, 
dissolve Parliament, and bring the constitution back to 
its original principles. He defends, at the same time, 
the action of the American colonies, and encourages 
them to move on with the work. 

It is, perhaps, noticeable to the historian, and espe- 
cially if he studies the causes of human action, that 
great movements in behalf of human weal are at no 
given time confined to a particular locality, but that 
they, in a measure, span the world. They at least ra- 
diate till they affect the whole of a particular type of 
mankind. ISTor is this attributable altogether to com- 
merce and a social interchange of thought, for these 
take time; but it seems as though, at times, convulsions 
of thought instantaneously afiect great classes of people 
widely separated by ocean or country. The study of 
mobs and riots in America, England, and France would 
lead to this conclusion. It is, however, not a mooted 
point, that the same cause which moved the colonies to 
action just prior to the revolution, at the same time con- 
vulsed the English nation. The tyranny of king, min- 

(55) 



56 JUNIUjS UNMA8KED. 

isters, and Parliament put its heel on the neck of Eng- 
lishmen as well as Americans. The people rose in 
rebellion there as well as here. Patriots arose in Eng- 
land as well as in America, and foremost among them 
all was Junius, for he fought the battle of freedom for 
the whole world. 

But that Junius meant war in England, is evident 
from almost every letter. I will give a few extracts in 
proof In his Dedication he says: '^i^lthough the 
king should continue to support his present system of 
government, the period is not very distant at which 
you will have the means of redress in your own power: 
it may be nearer, perhaps, than any of us expect; and 
I would warn you to be prepared for it.^^ If Thomas 
Paine wrote i\\Q Letters of Junius, he said this just be- 
fore departing for America. 

In his address to the Livery of London, he says, in 
regard to the candidates for election : ^"^ Will they grant 
you common halls when it shall be necessary ? Will 
they go up with remonstrances to the king? Have 
they firmness enough to meet the fury of a venal House 
of Commons? Have they fortitude enough not to 
shrink at imprisonment? Have they spirit enough 
to hazard their lives and fortunes in a contest, if it 
should be necessary, with a prostituted legislature? If 
these questions can fairly be answered in the affirma- 
tive, your choice Is made. Forgive this passionate lan- 
guage. I am unable to correct it. The subject comes 
home to us all. It is the language of my heart." — Let. 
57. Upon the appointment of Luttrell as adjutant- 
general, and who, thereupon, takes command of the 
army in Ireland, Junius says: '^My Lord, though it 



A BEV0LUTI0NI8T. 57 

may not be possible to trace this measure to its source, 
we can follow the stream, and warn the country of its 
approaching destruction. The English nation must be 
roused and put upon its guard. Mr. Luttrell has 
already shown us how far he may be trusted, when- 
ever an open attack is to be made upon the liberties of 
this country. I do not doubt that there is a deliberate 
plan formed. Your lordship best knows by Avhora. 
The cprruption of the legislative body on this side, a 
military force on the other, and then, Jareioell to Eng- 
lancV — Let. 40. Addressed to Lord North. The 
italics are his own. 

Speaking of the king, he says: ^^If he loves his 
people, he will dissolve the parliament which they can 
never confide in or respect. If he has any regard for 
his own honor, he will disdain to be any longer con- 
nected with such abandoned prostitution. But if it 
wTre conceivable [and it was with Junius] that a 
king of this country had lost all sense of personal hon- 
or, and all concern for the welfare of his subjects, I 
confess, sir, I should be contented to renounce tlie forms 
of the constitution once more, if there were no other 
way to obtain substantial justice for the people." — Let. 
44. Any one who is acquainted with the English con- 
stitution knows that ^' its forms'^ can not be renounced 
without a revolution. And as to his opinion of the 
king, he says, " his virtues had ceased to be a question." 
. . . ^' The man. I speak of [the king] has not a heart 
to feel for the frailties of his fellow creatures. It is their 
virtues that afflict, it is their vices that console him." — 
Let. 53. But this will be brought out more strongly 



58 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

in ray Parallels, and I will leave it here and pass on to 
speak of his sympathy with the colonies. 

It has perhaps been already noticed by the reader, 
that Junius, in the extracts given, spoke in the most 
respectful terms of the colonies. But when he says: 
"The spirit of the Americans may be an useful exam- 
ple to us ;" and, " patriotism may be improved by trans- 
planting,'' he meant more than praise of the colonies. 
He meant to stir up the English nation to action and 
rebellion. He speaks of the affections of the colonies 
as having been " alienated from their common country '^ 
by a series of inconsistent measures. — Let. 1 and Let. 
3. But in no instance does he blame them. In his 
address to the king, he says : " The distance of the 
colonies would make it impossible for them to take an 
active concern in your affairs, if they were as well 
affected to your government as they once pretended to 
be to your person. They are ready enough to distin- 
guish between you and your ministers. They com- 
plained of an act of the legislature, but traced the 
origin of it no higher than to the servants of the crown ; 
they pleased themselves with the hope that their sov- 
ereign, if not favorable to their cause, at least was im- 
partial. They consider you as united with your 
servants against America; and know how to distin- 
guish the sovereign and a venal parliament on one side, 
from the real sentiments of the English people on the 
other. Looking forward to independence, they might 
possibly receive you for their king ; but if ever you re- 
tire to America [this would be after Junius had 
effected a revolution in England], be assured they will 



A REVOLUTIONIST. 59 

give you such a covenant to digest as the presbytery of 
Scotland would have been ashamed to oiFer to Charles 
the Second. They left their native land in search of 
freedom, and found it in a desert. Divided, as they 
are, into a thousand forms of policy and religion, there 
is one point in which they all agree : they equally de- 
test the pageantry of a king, and the supercilious hy- 
pocrisy of a bishop." — Let. 35. Oliver Cromw^ell he 
calls an ^' accomplished president," and extols his 
genius. — Let. 14. Much more could be given of the 
same nature, but this is sufficient. 



KEVIEW OF JUNIUS. 

I WISH the reader to catch the spirit of Junius, and 
to this end I will briefly review the book. 

Junius, before beginning, has an orderly plan for 
his literary campaign. He opens it with the new 
year, and closes it with the same. He begins with a 
full and sweeping broadside at king, ministers, and 
anient, at the same time defending- the Enjilish 



rii 



pa 

people and the American colonies. He knew this 
would call forth a return fire, for which he held him- 
self in readiness. He expected a defense of the 
Duke of Grafton, but was disappointed in this, for it 
came from Sir William Draper, in behalf of Lord 
Granby. After he had temporarily silenced this gun, 
the last shot from Sir William being, '^ Cease, viper!" 
he pours charge after charge into Grafton, the prime 
minister. He does not attack the king at this time, 
for the reason that " it had been a maxim of the Eng- 
lish government, not unwillingly admitted by the peo- 
ple, that every ungracious or severe exertion of the pre- 
rogative should be placed to the account of the minis- 
ter; but that whenever an act of grace or benevolence 
was to be performed, the whole merit of it should be 
attributable to the sovereign himself'^ That is, the 
maxim that "The king can do no wrong," was yet 
(60) 



BE VIEW OF JUNIUS, 61 

admitted by the people, and for Junius to attack 
the kmg instead of the prime minister, would have 
thwarted his design, which was, as before stated, Revo- 
lution. Nor does Junius dare to assault the throne till 
he has brought forth a response in defense of Grafton, 
knowing that when it came it must reflect on the king. 
The last of May of the first year he had brought all 
his charges against Grafton, and to them there had 
been no response but " the flat general charge of scur- 
rility and falsehood." This Junius did not deign to 
answer. He now appears over the signature of Philo 
Junius, compiling the facts and giving them in their 
order. The principle charges were : an invasion upon 
" the first rights of the people and the first principles 
of the constitution'^ by the arbitrary appointment of 
Mr. Luttrell as a member of the House of Commons 
in the place of Mr. Wilkes, who, at the king's so- 
licitation, had been expelled : the disgraceful conduct 
of Grafton in associating with a prostitute in public : 
the charge of bastardy upon the duke: the desertion 
of Lord Chatham : the betrayal of Rockingham and 
Wilkes : his vascillating and weak action in regard to 
the colonies : and marrying the near relative of a man 
who had debauched his wife. But nothing could pro- 
voke any reply worthy of an answer by Junius till he, 
near the close of the year, brought forward the charge 
against Grafton of " selling a patent place in the col- 
lection of customs at Exeter to one Mr. Hine.'^ Junius 
says of this : " No sale by the candle was ever con- 
ducted with greater formality. I thank God ! there is 
not in human nature a degree of impudence daring 
enough to deny the charge I have fixed upon you.'' To 



62 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

aggravate this charge, Junius works up another, which 
is as follows: ^^A little before the publication of this 
and the preceding letter, the Duke of Grafton had 
commenced a prosecution against Mr. Samuel Vaughan 
for endeavoring to corrupt his integrity by an offer of 
five thousand pounds for a patent place in Jamaica/' 
But now the duke is charged by Junius with the ac- 
ceptance of a bribe from Mr. Hine, and to save the 
duke from impeachment, and Lord Mansfield from 
embarrassment, the prosecution is immediately drop- 
ped. See Let. 34. In a note to the above Letter Junius 
says : " From the publication of the preceding to this 
date, not one word was said in defense of the Duke of 
Grafton. But vice and impudence soon regained 
themselves, and the sale of the royal favor w^as openly 
avowed and defended. We acknowledge the piety of 
St. James', but what has become of its morality ? '' 

It is now the 12th of December, and on the 19th 
Junius assaults the throne. Till now there was no 
opportunity offered, for up to this time the king stood 
within the impregnable fortress, ^^ The king can do no 
wrong.'' Junius, while he acknowledges this maxim, 
does so merely to get the ear of the king, for he after- 
ward in his Preface takes occasion to place himself 
right before the public. But having once entered the 
king's castle, he makes George the Third the most 
insignificant and detestable object on earth. It is the 
most powerful piece of satire against kingcraft in the 
English language, and while it remains to be read by 
the people, kings may look on and tremble. Junius 
also in this not only hints war, but threatens revolution. 
In closing he says : " But this is not a time to trifle 



REVIEW OF JUNIUS. 63 

with your fortune. They deceive you^ sir, who tell you 
that you have many friends whose ajffections are founded 
upon a principle of personal attachment. The fortune 
which made you a king forbade you to have a friend. 
It is a law of nature which can not be violated with 
impunity. The mistaken prince who looks for friend- 
ship, will find a favorite, and in that favorite the ruin 
of his affairs.'^ And the closing sentence is : " While 
he plumes himself upon the security of his title to the 
crown, should remember, that, as it was acquired by 
one revolution, it may be lost by another." — Let. 35. 

But Junius failed to produce the desired effect. The 
spirit of revolution was now at its height. The ocean 
must ebb. A reaction follows, and during two years 
more Junius strives to put new life into the flagging 
energies of his countrymen, and to kindle anew the fire 
of liberty. But the flame goes out. 

The commons have been corrupted by the king, and 
now the lords give way : " The three branches of the 
legislature (king, lords, and commons) seem to treat 
their separate rights and interests as the Roman trium- 
virs did their friends ; they reciprocally sacrifice them to 
the animosities of each other, and establish a detestable 
union among themselves upon the ruin of the laws and 
liberty of the commonwealth.^' — Let. 39. 

Of the House of Lords he says : " By resolving that 
they had no right to impeach a judgment of the House 
of Commons in any case whatsoever, where that house 
has a competent jurisdiction, they in effect gave up that 
constitutional check and reciprocal control of one 
branch of the legislature over the other, which is, per- 
haps, the greatest and most important object provided 



64 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

for by the division of the whole legislative power into 
three estates ; and now let the judicial decisions of the 
House of Commons be ever so extravagant, let their 
declarations of law be ever so flagrantly false, arbitrary, 
and oppressive to the subject, the House of Lords have 
imposed a slavish silence upon themselves ; they can not 
interpose; they can not protect the subject ; they can not 
defend the laws of their country. A concession so 
extraordinary in itself, so contradictory to the principles 
of their own institution, can not but alarm the most 
unsuspecting mind/' — Let. 39. Junius, in a note to 
this Letter, calls for a leader upon this state of facts : 
^' The man who resists and overcomes this iniquitous 
power assumed by the lords, must be supported by the 
whole people. We have the laws on our side, and want 
nothing but an interpid leader. When such a man 
stands forth, let the nation look to it. It is not his 
cause, but our own.'' 

But the leader did not come, and Junius is no more 
known to England. After such declarations it would 
outrage all degrees of probability to suppose that 
Junius revealed himself to the king and ministry, and 
that they conferred on him a fat office for what he had 
written. I will not insult the common sense of my 
readers by offering an argument against it, founded upon 
the laws of human nature. And yet. Lord Macaulay 
has surrendered his reason to just such an assumption. 
Had Junius ever revealed himself to the king and his 
"detestable junto," that w^ould have been the last of 
him. 

Before I take my leave of Junius, I will give two 
extracts in which he sounds, TO AKMS ! 



REVIEW OF JUNIUS. 65 

He is addressing the Duke of Grafton : ^' You have 
now brought the merits of your administration to an 
issue, on which every Englishman^ of the narrowest ca- 
pacity, may determine for himself; it is not an alarm 
to the passions, but a calm appeal to the judgment of 
the people upon their own most essential interests. A 
more experienced minister would not have hazarded a 
direct invasion of the first principles of the constitution 
before he had made some progress in subduing the spirit 
of the people. With such a cause as yours, my lord, it 
is not sufficient that you have the court at your devo- 
tion, unless you find means to corrupt or intimidate the 
jury. The collective body of the people form that jury, 
and from their decision there is but one appeal. 
Whether you have talents to support you at a crisis of 
such difficulty and danger, should long ago have been 
considered.^' — Let. 15. 

" My lord, you should not encourage these appeals to 
Heaven, The pious prince from whom you are supposed 
to descend made such frequent use of them in his public 
declarations, that, at last, the people also found it neces- 
sary to appeal to Heaven in their turn. Your admin- 
istration has driven us into circumstances of equal dis- 
tress — beware, at least, how you remind us of the reme- 
dy /^—Let. 9. 

Junius breathed the spirit of revolution. This is the 
purpose, and only purpose, of the Letters, namely : to 
produce a revolution in England. And, if Thomas 
Paine was Junius, the idea never left him. As this is 
a fact which extends through the life of Mr. Paine, I 
shall offer some proof here, on this point, as amidst the 
multiplicity of facts and arguments it may hereafter es- 



66 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

cape me. It will serve, also, to introduce Mr. Paine to 
the reader. 

An obscure English exciseman has now been a little 
more than two years in America, and just five years 
since Junius wrote his last Letter; he has written "Com- 
mon Sense ^' and one '^ Crisis f he has revolutionized pub- 
lic sentiment in America, the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence has been sent abroad to the world, and the war 
well begun, when in his second " Crisis ^^ he indites the 
following to Lord Howe: '^ 1, who know England and 
the disposition of the people well, am confident that it 
is easier for us to effect a revolution there than you a 
conquest here. A few thousand men landed in England 
with the declared design of deposing the present king, 
bringing his ministers to trial, and setting up the Duke 
of Gloucester in his stead, would assuredly carry their 
point while you were groveling here ignorant of the 
matter. As I send all my papers to England, this, like 
Common Sense, will find its way there; and, though it 
may put one party on their guard, it will inform the 
otlier and the nation in general of our design to help 
them.'' 

Here Mr. Paine has announced the name of the leader 
whom Junius called for. But Paine proposes to do 
Junius over again. Hear him! In the year 1792 he 
writes: "During the war, in the latter end of the year 
1780, I formed to myself i\\Q design of coming over to 
England. ... I was strongly impressed with the idea 
that if I could get over to England without being 
known, and only remain in safety till I could g^i out a 
publication, I could open the eyes of the country with 
respect to the madness and stupidity of its government. 



HE VIE TV OF JUNIUS. 67 

I saw that the parlies in parliament had pitted them- 
selves as far as they could go, and could make no new 
impression on each other. General Greene entered fully 
into my views, but the affair of Arnold and Andre hap- 
pening just after, he changed his mind, and, under 
strong apprehensions for my safety, wrote to me very 
pressingly to give up the design, which, with some re- 
luctance, I did." He afterward renews the same design. 
In accompanying Colonel Laurens to France, certain 
dispatches from the English government fell into his 
hands through the capture of an English frigate. 
These dispatches Paine read at Paris, and brought them 
to America on his return. He says: '^By these dis- 
patches I saw further into the stupidity of the Eng- 
lish cabinet than I otherwise could have done, and I 
renewed my former design. But Colonel Laurens was 
so unwilling to return alone, more especially as, among 
other matters, he had a charge of upward of two hun- 
dred thousand pounds sterling money, that I gave 
in to his wishes, and finally gave up my plan. But I 
am now certain that, if I could have executed it, it 
would not have been altogether unsuccessful." — Note, 
Rights of Man, part ii. JSior is this all. " When Na- 
poleon meditated a descent upon England by means of 
gunboats, he secured the services of Thomas Paine to 
establish, after the conquest, a more popular govern- 
ment."— -New Am. Cyc, Art. Thomas Paine. From 
all that I can gather, Mr. Paine was himself the author 
of this " plan of Napoleon's." 

. 5 



COMMON SENSE. 

Junius is heard no more in England. The fame of 
this unknown author has gone round the world. A 
score of volumes have been w^ritten to prove his identity 
with a score of names. But all that has been said is 
wild with conjecture, and arguments have only been 
built upon ^^ rumor, ^^ and " facts ^^ drawn from the im- 
agination. A scientific criticism has never been at- 
tempted. Truth has been insulted by the imagination 
in its wild ramblings, and writers have contented them- 
selves with theory and fancy, "to pile up reluctant 
quarto upon solid folio, as if their labors, because they 
are gigantic, could contend with truth and Heaven." 
But while the king and his cabinet are setting traps, 
and hunting up and down the whole realm for this 
*^ mighty boar of the forest," in fear that he will again 
plunge at the king, or tear the ermine of Lord Mansfield, 
Thomas Paine, just landed upon the shores of America, 
hurls back a shaft at royalty which transfixes it to the 
wall of its castle. This was Common Sense. A reaction 
had taken place in England, and the people of America 
were also affected thereby. Reconciliation was the cry, 
independence scarcely lisped, and, wdien lisped, people 
" startled at the novelty of it." " In this state of po- 
litical suspense," says Mr. Paine, "the pamphlet of 

m 



COMMON SENSE. 69 

Common Sense made its appearance, and the success it 
met with does not become me to mention. Dr. Frank- 
lin, Mr. Samuel, and John Adams were severally 
spoken of as the supposed author. I had not, at that 
time, the pleasure either of personally knowing or being 
known to the two last gentlemen. The favor of Dr. 
Franklin's friendship I- possessed in England, and my 
introduction to this part of the world was through his 
patronage. ... In October, 1775, Dr. Franklin 
proposed giving me such materials as were in his hands 
toward completing a history of the present transactions, 
aud seemed desirous of having the first volume out the 
next spring. I had then formed the outlines of Com- 
mon Sense and finished nearly the first part ; and, as I 
supposed the doctor's design in getting out a history 
was to open the new year with a new system, I expected 
to surprise him with a production on that subject much 
earlier than he thought of, and, without informing him 
what I was doing, got it ready for the press as fast as 
I conveniently could, and sent him the first pamphlet 
that was printed off." — Note, Crisis, iii. 

Opening the new year with a new system is emphat- 
ically what Junius also did, and it is most remarkable 
that the appearance of Junius' first Letter had, at first, 
the same effect in England that Common Sense had in 
America. Both came like thunderbolts. "On January 
10, 1776, when ' a reconciliation with the mother country 
was the wish of almost every American,' a pamphlet 
called Common Sense, advocating the establishment of 
a republic of free and independent states, ^ burst upon 
the world' — in the language of Dr. Rush — Svith an 
effect which has rarely been produced by types and pa- 



70 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

per in any age or country.' It was immediately de- 
nounced as ^ one of the most artful, insidious, and per- 
nicious of pamphlets ! ' John Dickinson, a staunch sup- 
porter of the American cause, and author of the ^ Far- 
mers' Letters,' opposed the idea of independence in a 
speech as a member of the Continental Congress. The 
author of ^ Plain Truth,' one of the many replies to 
Common Sense, thought that ' volumes were insufficient 
to describe the horror, misery, and desolation awaiting 
the people at large in the siren form of American inde- 
pendence.' Dr. William Smith, provost of the Uni- 
versity of Pennsylvania, said, in his ^ Cato's Letters/ 
published in March, 1776 : ^ Nor have many weeks yet 
elapsed since the first open proposition for independence 
was published to the world ; it certainly has no counte- 
nance from congress, and is only the idol of those who 
wish to subvert all order among us, and rise on the 
ruins of their country.'" — Art. Thomas Paine, New 
Am. Cyc. 

This was the first effort in America toward revolu- 
tion. It was a bold hand, moved by a daring heart, 
that wrote Common Sense. In style and language, in 
argument and sentiment, in spirit and character, it is 
the finest political production ever produced in the Eng- 
lish language. The object for which Junius and Com- 
mon Sense were written I have shown to be the same, 
namely: revolution, and that the base of operation has 
only been changed. It is still an attack upon king, 
lords, and commons, and a defense of the people. I 
now go to show that Common Sense is a concise repro- 
duction of Junius, in sentiment, style, and method of 
argumentation. But I will first call to the reader's 



COMMON SENSE. 71 

mind a sentence from Junius in answer to the assertion 
of Dr. Smith just quoted^ that Common Sense was ^^the 
first open proposition for independence/' On the con- 
trary, the first open statement of Junius in regard to 
the colonies, addressed to the king six years before this, 
is as follows : ^^ Looking forward to independence, they 
might possibly receive you for their king ; but, if you 
ever retire to America, be assured they will give you 
such a covenant to digest as the presbytery of Scotland 
would have been ashamed to offer to Charles the Second. 
They left their native land in search of freedom, and 
found it in a desert. Divided as they are into a thou- 
sand forms of policy and religion, there is one point in 
which they all agree — they equally detest the pageantry 
of a king, and the supercilious hypocrisy of a bishop.'' 

I have now only to remark : when Thomas Paine 
came to America, at least when he wrote Common 
Sense, he understood the American people and what 
they wanted better than they did themselves ; and so 
did Junius. 

I now bring Common Sense and Junius together to 
show parallels of idea, method, and style. 

Common Sense was ad- Junius was dedicated to 

dressed to the inhabitants the English nation ; por- 

of America, the Introduc- tions of the Dedication are 

tion of which is as follows : as follows : 

" Perhaps the sentiments '^ I dedicate to you a col- 
contained in the following lection of letters written by 
pages are not yet sufficient- one of yourselves, for the 
ly fashionable to procure common benefit of us all. 
them general favor; a long They would never have 
habit of not thinking a grown to this size without 
thing wrong, gives it a su- your continued encourage- 



72 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

perficial appearance of be- ment and applause. To 
ing right, and raises, at me they originally owe 
first, a formidable outcry nothing but a healthy, san- 
in defense of custom. But guine constitution. Under 
the tumult soon subsides, your care they have thriven; 
Time makes more converts to you they are indebted for 
than Reason. whatever strength or beau- 

■ "A long and violent ty they possess. 
abuse of power is general- " When kings and min- 
ly tlie means of calling the isters are forgotten, when 
right of it in question (and the force and direction of 
in matters, too, which personal satire is no longer 
might never have been understood, and when meas- 
thought of had not the suf- ures are only felt in their 
ferers been aggravated into remotest consequences, this 
the inquiry), and as the book will, I believe, be 
king of England hath un- found to contain principles 
dertaken, in his own right, worthy to be transmitted 
to support the parliament to posterity. When you 
in what he calls theirs, and leave the unimpaired, he- 
as the good people of this reditary freehold to your 
country are grievously op- children, you do but half 
pressed by the combination, your duty. Both liberty 
they have an undoubted and property are precarious, 
privilege to inquire into the unless the possessors have 
pretensions of both, and sense and spirit enough to 
equally to reject the usurpa- defend them, 
tions of either. '^ Be assured that the laws 

" In the following sheets which protect us in our 
the author hath studiously civil rights, grow out of 
avoided every thing which the constitution, and they 
is personal among ourselves, must fall or flourish with 
Compliments as well as it. This is not the cause 
censure to individuals make of faction or of party, or of 
no part thereof. The wise any individual, but the 
and the worthy need not common interest of every 
the triumph of a pamphlet; man in Britain. Although 
and those whose sentiments the king should continue 



COMMON iSENSE. 



73 



are injudicious or unfriend- 
ly will cease of themselves, 
unless too much pains is 
bestowed upon their con- 
version. 

^'The cause of America 
is, in a great measure, the 
cause of all mankind. 
Many circumstances have 
and will arise, which are 
not local, but universal, 
and through which the 
principles of all lovers of 
mankind are affected, and 
in the event of which, their 
affections are interested. 
The laying a country deso- 
late with fire and sword, 
declaring war against the 
natural rights of mankind, 
and extirpating the defend- 
ers thereof from the face of 
the earth, is the concern of 
every man to whom nature 
hath given the power of 
feeling ; of which class, re- 
gardless of party censure, 
is The Author.'^ 



to support his present sys- 
tem of government, the pe- 
riod is not very distant at 
which you will have the 
means of redress in your 
own power; it may be 
nearer, perhaps, than any 
of us expect ; and I would 
warn you to be prepared 

for it 

^'You can not but con- 
clude, without the possibil- 
ity of a doubt, that long 
parliaments are the founda- 
tion of the undue influence 
of the crown. This influ- 
ence answers every pur- 
pose of arbitrary power to 
the crown. . . It promises 
every gratification to ava- 
rice and ambition, and se- 
cures impunity. . . You 
are roused at last to a sense 
of your danger; the remedy 
will soon be in your })0w- 
er. If Junius lives you 
shall often be reminded of 
it. If, when the opportu- 
nity presents itself, you 
neglect to do your duty to 
yourselves and to posterity, 
to God and to your coun- 
try, I shall have one con- 
solation left in common 
with the meanest and 
basest of mankind : civil 
liberty may still last the 
life of Junius.'^ 



74 JUNIU>S UNMASKED. 

I would call the attention of the reader to the man- 
ner in which they close : to the cause of which they 
speak : to the object of their labors : to the fact that 
they stand above party or faction : to the expression of 
Junius^ " written by one of yourselves ; " to the declar- 
ation that if he lives he will often remind the English 
people of the danger they are in and of the remedy : to 
tlie fact that Mr. Paine here does it, and continues to 
do it ever after while he lives : in short, I would call 
the attention of the reader to the perfect similarity in 
style, object, and sentiment, save in this — the. one was 
the requiem of Freedom in England, the other, her 
natal song in America. 

As I have called attention to the style, I would 
caution the reader not to be betrayed by the word 
" hath " of Mr. Paine. It by no means affects the 
style. It was doubtless used or not used at first as a 
blind by Mr. Paine; for he sometimes used it and 
sometimes did not. A few years later in life it is aban- 
doned altogether, and Junius occasionally lets it slip. 
See Let. 37. And also the word " doth.''— Note, Let. 41. 

The following gives a distinction between society and 
government, the failure of human conscience, and the 
necessary surrender of human liberty : 

Commoi'i Sense. Junius. 

Society in every state is "It is not in the nature of 
a blessing, but government human society that any 
even in its best state is but form of government in 
a ■ necessary evil. In its such circumstances can long 
worst state, an intolerable be preserved. — Let. 35. 
one; for when we suffer or "The multitude in all 
are exposed to the same countries are patient to a 
miseries by a government certain point. Ill usage 



COMMOX SEXSE. 75 

which we might expect in may rouse their indignation 
a country withoi^t gov- and hurry them into exces- 
ernment^ our calamity is ses, but the original fault 
heightened by reflecting, is in government, 
that we furnish the means " The ruin or prosperity 
by which we suffer. Gov- of a state depends so much 
ernment, like dress, is the upon the administration of 
badge of lost innocence, its government, that to 
The palaces of kings are be acquainted with the 
built upon the ruins of the merit of a ministry, we 
bowers of paradise, for were need only observe the 
the impulses of conscience condition of the people.^' 
clear, uniform, and irresist- Let. 1. 
iblyobeyed, man would need " If co?iscie7ice plays the 
no other law-giver; but tyrant it would be greatly 
that not being the case, he for the benefit of the 
finds it necessary to surren- world that she were more 
der up a part of his prop- arbitrary and far less pla- 
erty to furnish means for cable than some men find 
the protection of the rest ; her."— Let. 27. 
and this he is induced to " I lament the unhappy 
do by the same prudence necessity whenever it arises 
which in every other case of providing for the safety 
advises him out of two of the state by a temporary 
evils to choose the least.' invasion of the personal 

liberty of the subject."-Let. 
58. 

Junius feels and ac- 
knowledges the evil in the 
most express terms, and 
will show himself ready to 
concur in any rational plan 
that may provide for the 
liberty of the individual 
without hazarding the 
safety of the community.'^ 
Let. 63. 



76 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

Mr. Paine now proceeds to form a government upon 
an ideal plan, and show the origin of those first princi- 
ples which would operate in the first peopling of a coun- 
try. " But as nothing but heaven is impregnable to 
vice/^ the natural restraints of society will not be suffi- 
cient to check it ; this will necessitate the establishment 
of a government. At first, the whole colony may delib- 
erate, and in the first parliament every man will have a 
seat. But as the colony increases this can not be done, 
because inconvenience prohibits it. He now observes: 

'^ This will point out the Junius, 
convenience of their con- 
senting to leave the legis- /'The House of Commons 
lative .part to be managed are only interpreters whose 
bv a select number chosen duty it is to convey the 
from the whole body, who sense of tlie people faithful- 
are supposed to have the ly to the crown ; if the in- 
same interests at stake terpretation be false or ini- 
which those have who ap- perfect, the constituent 
pointed them, and who will powers are called to deliv- 
act in the same manner as er their own sentiments, 
the whole body would were Their speech is rude but 
they present. If the colo- intelligible; their gestures 
ny continue increasing, it fierce but full of expla- 
will become necessary to nation. Perplexed with 
augment the number of sophistries, their honeat 
representatives ; and that eloquence rises into ac- 
the interest of every part tion.^^ — Let. 38. 
of the colony may be at- '^ I an^i convinced that if 
tended to, it will be found shortening the duration of 
best to divide the whole parliaments (which, in ef- 
into convenient parts, each feet, is keeping the repre- 
purt sending its proper sentative under the rod of 
number; and that the the constituent) be not 
elected mio;ht never form made the basis of our 



COMMON SENSE, 



77 



to themselves an interest 
separate from the electors, 
prudence will point out the 
propriety of having elec- 
tions often ; because, as the 
elected might by that means 
return and mix again with 
the general body of the 
electors, in a few months 
their fidelity to the public 
will be secured by the pru- 
dent reflection of making a 
rod for themselves. And 
as this frequent interchange 
will establish a common 
interest with every part of 
the community, they will 
mutually and naturally 
support each other, and on 
this (not on the unmeaning 
name of king) depends the 
strength of government and 
the happiness of the gov- 
erned. 

^' Here, then, is the ori- 
gin and rise of govern- 
ment ; viz, a mode rendered 
necessary by the inability 
of moral virtue to govern 
the world ; here, too, is the 
design and 'end of govern- 
ment, viz : freedom and se- 
curity. And however our 
eyes may be dazzled with 
show, or our ears deceived 
by sound; however preju- 
dice may warp our wills, 
or interest darken our un- 



new parliamentary juris- 
prudence, other checks or 
improvements signify noth- 
ing. On the contrary, if 
this be made the founda- 
tion, other measures may 
come in aid, and, as auxil- 
iaries, be of considerable 
advantage. If we are sin- 
cere in the political creed 
we profess, there are many 
things can not be done by 
king, lords and commons.^' 
Let. 68. 

" The free election of our 
representatives in parlia- 
ment comprehends, because 
it is the source and securi- 
ty of every right and priv- 
ilege of the Englisli nation. 
The ministry have realized 
the compendious ideas of 
Caligula. They know that 
the liberty, the laws, and 
property of an English- 
man, have in truth but one 
neck, and that to violate 
the freedom of election 
strikes deeply at them all.^' 
Let. 39. 

" Does the law of parlia- 
ment, which we are often 
told is the law of the land ; 
does the right of every 
subject of the realm, depend 
upon an arbitrary, capri- * 
cious vote of one branch of 
the legislature? The voice 



78 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

derstanding^ the simple of truth and reason must 
voice of nature and reason be silent.'^ — Let. 20. 
will say^ it is right.'^ 

In the above the sentiment is not only the same, but 
the same metaphors are used. As a "rod'^ for the 
representative, and the '^ voice of reason. ^^ 

In the following the same metaphor also is used, but 
with a change in the application. 

Common Sense. Junius. 

'' But the constitution of " After a rapid succession 
England is so exceedingly of changes, we are reduced 
complex, that the nation to that state which hardly 
may suffer for years to- any change can mend. It 
gether without being able is not -the disorder, but the 
to discover in which part physieian : it is not a casual 
the fault lies ; some will concurrence of calamitous 
say in one, some in another, circumstances; it is the 
and every political physi- pernicious hand of govern- 
cian will advise a different ment which alone can make 
medicine.'' a whole people desperate.'^ 

Let. 1. 

In the above, Junius is speaking, in his first Letter, 
with all the prejudices of an Englishman in favor of 
the constitution. But this soon wears off, and in his 
closing Letter he speaks as boldly as Common Sejs"se. 

Common Sense. Junius. 

" I know it is difficult to '' I confess, sir, that I felt 
get over local or long the prejudices of my educa- 
standing prejudices, yet if tion in favor of a House 
we will suffer ourselves of Commons still hanging 
to examine the component about me. . . . The 
parts of the English con- state of things is much 
stitution, we will find them altered in this country since 



COMMON SENSE. 79 

to be the base remains of it was necessary to protect 
two ancient tyrannies^ com- our representatives against 
pounded with some new the direct powerof the crown, 
republican materials. We have nothing to appre- 

First : The remains of hend from prerogative, but 
monarchical tyranny in the every thing from undue in- 
person of the king. fluence.'' — Let. 44. 

Secondly: The remains See how Junius now 
of aristocratical tyranny in bows to monarchy in order 
the persons of the peers. to strike it : '^ I can more 

Thirdly : The new repub- readily admire the liberal 
lican materials in the per- spirit and integrity, than 
sons of the commons, on the sound judgment of any 
whose virtue depends the man who prefers a republi- 
freedom of England. can form of government in 

this or any other empire 

^' The nearer any govern- of equal extent, to a mon- 
ment approaches to a repub- archy so qualified and 
lie, the less business there is limited as ours. I am 
for a king. It is somewhat convinced that neither is it 
difficult to find a proper in theory the wisest system 
name for the government of government, nor practi- 
of England. Sir William cable in this country. Yet, 
Meredith calls it a repub- though I hope the English 
lie, but in its present state constitution will forever 
it is unworthy of the name^ preserve its original mon- 
because the corrupt influ- archical form, I would have 
ence of the crown by having the manners of the people 
all the places at its disposal, purely and strictly repub- 
hath so effectually swal- lican. I do not mean the 
lowed up the power, and licentious spirit of anarchy 
eaten out the virtue of the and riot ; I mean a general 
House of Commons (the attachment to the common 
republican part in the con- weal, distinct from any 
stitution), that the govern- partial attachment to per- 
raent of England is nearly sons or families ; an im- 
as monarchical as that of plicit submission to the 
France or Spain. Men fall laws only ; and an affection 



80 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

out with names without un- to the magistrate propor- 
derstanding them. For it is tioiied to the integrity and 
the republican and not the wisdom with which he 
monarchical part of the distributes justice to the 
constitution of England, people, and administers 
which Englishmen glory their affairs. The present 
in, viz: the liberty of choos- habit of our political body 
ing a House of Commons appears to me the very 
from out their own body; reverse of what it ought to 
and it is easy to see, that be. The form of the con- 
when republican virtue stitution leans rather more 
fails, slavery ensues. Why than enough to the popular 
is the constitution of Eng- branch ; while in effect the 
land sickly, but because manners of the people (of 
monarchy hath poisoned the those at least who are 
republic, the crown hath likely to take the lead in 
eugrossed the commons." the country) incline too 

generally to a dependence 
upon the crown. The real 
friends of arbitrary power combine the facts, and are 
not inconsistent with their principles, when they stren- 
uously support the unwarrantable privileges assumed 
by the House of Commons. In these circumstances it 
were much to be desired that we had many such men 
as Mr. Sawbridge to represent us in parliament. I 
speak from common. report and opinion ouly, when T 
impute to him a speculative predilection in favor of a 
republic. In the personal conduct and manners of 
the man I can not be mistaken. He has shown himself 
possessed of that republican firmness which the times 
require, and by which an English gentleman may be 
as usefully and as honorably distinguished as any citi- 
zen of ancient Eome, of Athens, or Lacedemon." 
Let. 58. 

I would remark on the above passage from Junius, 
that this is one of his finest rhetorical efforts, and it is 



COMMON SENSE. 81 

well worthy of a moment's pause, to study its plan and 
probable effect on the English mind. This was written 
near the close of his literary campaign. The reaction 
had set in, and he was stemming the tide of public 
opinion. He wishes to bring the people up to his re- 
publican notions, and to rouse them to action. He be- 
gins by admiring the liberal spirit and integrity of the 
man, but reflects on his judgment who prefers a repub- 
lic to a monarchy so qualified and limited in a country 
of that size. He limits monarchy to a small country. 
The reader will mark how guarded he is here. He is 
fully aware of the prejudices of the people in favor of 
monarchy, and doubtless he spoke his own sentiments 
at the time, qualified as they were. Mr. Paine after- 
ward spoke offsetting up the Duke of Gloucester, de- 
posing the king, and bringing the ministers to trial.'' 
Junius has now prepared the public ear for an attentive 
and respectful hearing ; he has bowed to monarchy, and 
touched the heart of his audience. He now introduces 
the principles of a republic, which produce a spirit de- 
void of anarchy and riot, but one attached to the com- 
mon weal and submissive to the laws only. He now 
tenderly chides the people for their dependence upon 
the crown, especially the leaders. He then advances to 
a charge of inconsistency, and shows the advantage the 
friends of arbitrary power take of it. He now supports 
himself by authority in a eulogy on Mr. Sawbridge, of 
whom he says: ^'He has shown himself possessed of 
that republican firmness which the times require." He 
at last caps the climax with an array of republics, and 
a hint that an English gentleman would be "• honorably 
distinguished'' if he would come forward and play 



82 '■ JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

the part of Brutus. The whole paragraph is deeply 
planned and finely wrought out, and would fall with 
stunning weight upon the mind of the English nation. 

But let us proceed. Mr. Paine asked, in the last 
sentence quoted above in the parallel column : " Why 
is the constitution of England sickly ?'' etc. He also 
further says: ^^An inquiry into the constitutional errors 
in the English form of government is at this time 
highly necessary, for, as we are never in a proper con- 
dition of doing justice to others while we continue un- 
der the influence of some leading partiality, so neither 
are we capable of doing it to ourselves while we remain 
fettered by an obstinate prejudice. And as a man who 
is attached to a prostitute is unfit to choose or judge of 
a wife, so any prepossession in favor of a rotten consti- 
tution of government will disable us from discerning a 
good one.'' — Common Sense, Part I. 

Englishmen considered rotten boroughs the only rot- 
ten part of the constitution, but Common Sense and 
Junius both considered that the disease had extended 
from the extremities to the heart. Junius says: 

'^As to cutting away the rotten boroughs, I am as 
much offended as any man at seeing so many of them 
under the direct influence of the crown, or at the dis- 
posal of private persons. Yet, I own I have both 
doubts and apprehensions in regard to the remedy you 
propose. . . '. When all your instruments of am- 
putation are prepared, when the unhappy patient lies 
bound at your feet, without the possibility of resistance, 
by what infallible rule will you direct the operation? 
When you propose to cut away the rotten parts, can 
you tell us what parts are perfectly sound? Are there 



COMMON SENSE. 83 

any certain limits, in fact or theory, to inform you at 
what point yoa must stop — at what point the mortifica- 
tion ends? To a man [Mr. Wilkes] so capable of ob- 
servation and reflection as you are, it is unnecessary to 
say all that might be said upon the subject. Besides 
that, I approve higlily of Lord Chatham's idea of in- 
fusing a portion of new health into the constitution, to 
enable it to bear its infirmities — a brilliant expression, 
and full of intrinsic wisdom.^' — Last Letter of Junius. 

Common Sense. Junius. 

"Tosaythattheconstitu- ^'^The three branches of 
tion of England is a union the legislature seem to treat 
of three powers, recipro- their separate rights and in- 
cally checking each other, terests as the Roman trium- 
is farcical; either the words virs did their friends — they 
have no meaning, or they reciprocally sacrifice them 
are flat contradictions. To to the animosities of each 
say that the commons is a other, and establish a de- 
check upon the king pre- testable union among them- 
supposes two things: selves upon the ruin of the 

Fii'st. — That the king is laws and the liberty of the 
not to be trusted without commonwealth.^' — Let. 39. 
being looked after; or, in Li speaking of and to the 
other words, that a thirst king, he says: 
for absolute power is the ^' It has been the misfor- 
natural disease of mon- tune of your life, and orig- 
archy. inally the cause of every 

Secondly. — That the com- reproach and distress which 
mons, by being appointed has attended your govern - 
for that purpose, are either ment, that you should never 
wiser, or more worthy of have been acquainted with 
confidence than the crown, the language of truth until 

There is something ex- you heard it in the com- 
ceedingly ridiculous in the plaints of your people." — 
composition of monarchy — Let. 35. 
6 



84 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

it first excludes a man from ^' A faultless, insipid 
the means of information, equality in his character is 
yet empowers him to act in neither capable of virtue or 
cases where the highest vice in the extreme, but it 
judgment is required. The secures his submission to 
state of a king shuts him those persons whom he has 
from the world, yet the been accustomed to respect, 
business of a king requires and makes him a dangerous 
him to know it thorough- instrument of their ambi- 
ly; wherefore, the different tion. Secluded from the 
parts, by unnaturally op- world, attached from his in- 
posing and destroying each fancy to one set of persons 
other, prove the whole char- and one set of ideas, he can 
acter to be absurd and use- neither open his heart to 
less. new connections, nor his 

That the crown is this mind to better informa- 
overbearing part in the tion.^^ — Let. 39. 
English constitution, needs Of the king\s influence 
not to be mentioned ; and on parliament, he says : 
that it derives its whole ^' It is arbitrary and no- 
consequence merely from toriously under the influ- 
being the giver of places ence of the crown." — Let. 
and pensions, is self-evident. 44. 

Wherefore, though w^e have ^^ I beg you will convey 

been wise enough to shut to your gracious master my 

and lock a door against ab- humble congratulations up- 

solute monarchy, we at the on the glorious success of 

same time have been foolish peerages and pensions, so 

enough to put the crown lavishly distributed as the 

in possession of the key. rewards of Irish virtue." — 

The prejudice of Eng- Let. (^^. 

lishmen in favor of their " That the sovereign of 

own government by king, this country is not amen- 

lords, and commons, arises able to any form of trial 

as much or more from na- known to the laws, is un- 

tional pride than reason, questionable; but exemp- 

Individuals are undoubt- tion from punishment is a 

edly safer in England than singular privilege annexed 



COMMON SENSE. 85 

in some other countries, but to the royal character, and 
the ^yill of the king Is as no way excludes the possi- 
much the law of the land bility of deserving it. How 
in Britain as in France, long and to what extent a 
with this difference: that, king of England may be 
instead of proceeding di- protected by the forms, 
rectly from his mouth, it is when he violates the spirit 
handed to the people under of the constitution, deserves 
the formidable shape of an to be considered. A mis- 
act of parliament. For the take in this matter proved 
fate of Charles the 'First fatal to Charles and his 
hath only made kings more son." — Preface to Junius, 
subtle — not more just. " The consequences of this 

Wherefore^ laying aside attack upon the constitution 
all national pride and preju- are too plain and palpable 
dice in favor of modes and not to alarm the dullest ap- 
forms, the plain truth is prehension. I trust you 
that it is wholly owing to the will find that the people of 
Gonstitution of the people, and England are neither defi- 
notthe constitution of the gov- cient in spirit or under- 
ernment, that the crown is standing, though you have 
not as oppressive in Eng- treated them as if they had 
land as in Turkey." neither sense to feel, nor 

spirit to resent. We have 
reason to thank God and 
our ancestors that there never yet was a minister in this 
country who could stand the issue of such a conflict, 
and, with every prejudice in favor of your intentions, 
I see no such abilities in your grace as should enable 
you to succeed in an enterprise in which the ablest and 
basest of your predecessors have found their destruc- 
tion. . . . Never hope that the freeholders will 
make a tame surrender of their rights, or that an Eng:- 
lish army will join with you in overturning the liber- 
ties of their country." — Let. 11. 

I will now present their doctrine of equal rights: 



86 



JUNIUS UNMASKED. 



Common Sense. 

"Mankind being original- 
ly equals in the order of 
creation, the equality could 
not be destroyed by some 
subsequent circumstance. 

"As the exalting one man 
so greatly above the rest, 
can not be justified on the 
equal rights of nature. . . 

" For all men being orig- 
inally equals, no one by 
birth could have a right to 
set up his own family in 
perpetual preference to all 
others forever, and though 
himself might deserve some 
decent degree of honors of 
his cotemporarles, yet his 
descendants might be far 
too unworthy to inherit 
them. One of the strong- 
est natural^ proofs of the 
folly of hereditary right in 
kings, is, that nature dis- 
proves it, otherwise she 
would not so frequently 
turn it into ridicule by giv- 
ing mankind an ass for a 
lion.^^ 



Junius. 

" In the rights of freedom 

w^e are all equal 

The least considerable man 
among us has an interest 
equal to the proudest noble- 
man.''— Let. 37. 

" When the first original 
right of the people, from 
which all laws derive their 
authority," etc. — Let. 30. j 

" Those sacred original | 
rights which belonged to 
them before they were sol- 
diers."— Let. IL 

" Those original rights of 
your subjects, on which all 
their civil and political lib- 
erties depend. ..... 

" If the English people 
should no longer confine 
their resentment to a sub- 
missive representation of 
their wrongs ; if, following 
the glorious example of 
their ancestors, they should 
no longer appeal to the 
creature of the constitution, 
but to that high Being who 
gave them the rights of 
humanity, whose gifts it 
were sacrilege to surrender; 
let me ask you, sir, upon 
what part of your subjects 
would you rely for assist- 
ance?" — Address to the 
king. Let. 35. 



COMMON SENSE. 87 

While I am upon the subject of king, I will present 

their views in this place. And I would call attention 
to the severity of the language : 

Common Sense. Junius. 

" In England, a king hath " For my own part, far 
little more to do than to from thinking that the 
make war and give away king can do no wrong ; far 
places, which, in . plain from suffering myself to 
terms, is to impoverish the be deterred or imposed up- 
nation and set it together on by the language of 
by the ears. A pretty forms ; if it were my mis- 
business, indeed, for a man fortune to live under the 
to be allowed eight hun- inauspicious reign of a 
dred thousand sterling a prince, whose whole life 
year for, and worshiped was employed in one base, 
into the bargain ! Of more contemptible struggle with 
worth is one honest man to the free spirit of his peo- 
society and in the sight of pie, or in the detestable 
God than all the crowned endeavor to corrupt their 
ruffians that ever lived. moral principles, I would 

"But where, say some, is not scruple to declare to 

the king of America? VU him: ^Sir, you alone are 

tell you, friend, he reigns the author of the greatest 

above, and doth not make wrong to your subjects and 

havoc of mankind, like the to yourself. . . Has not 

royal brute of Britain." the strength of the crown, 

In commenting on the whether influence or pre- 
sentence spoken of the rogative, been uniformly 
king, "63/ ?i;Aose Is OD ALOKE exerted for eleven years 
they were permitted to do together, to support a nar- 
any tiling/^ he says : " Here row, pitiful system of gov- 
is idolatry even without a ernment, which defeats 
mask; and he who can itself and answers no one 
calmly hear and digest such purpose of real power, 
doctrine, hath forfeited his profit, or personal satisfac- 
claim to rationality ; is an tion to you ?^ " — Pref. 



88 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

apostate froDi the order of ^^The minister who, by 
manhood, and ought to be secret corruption, invades 
considered as one who hath the freedom of elections, 
not only given up the pro- and the ruffian [meaning 
per dignity of man, but the king] who, by open vio- 
sunk himself beneath the lence, destroys that free- 
rank of animals, and con- dom, are embarked in the 
temptibly crawls through same bottom." — Let. 8. 
the world like a worm. " When Junius observes 
However, it matters very that kings are ready enough 
little now what the king to follow such advice, he 
of England either says or does not mean to insinuate 
does; he hath wickedly that, if the advice of Par- 
broken through every moral liament were good, the 
and human obligation, king would be so ready to 
trampled nature and con- follow it." — Let. 45. 
science under his feet ; and, '^ There is surely some- 
by a steady and unconstitu- thing singularly benevo- 
tional spirit of insolence lent in the character of 
and cruelty, procured for our sovereign. From the 
himself an universal ha- moment he ascended the 
tred." throne, there is no crime 

I shall now give two of which human nature is 
passages from another por- capable (and I call upon 
tion of Mr.*Paine's work the recorder to witness it) 
to parallel with the last that has not appeared 
two of Junius on the king: venial in his sight." — Let. 

''Good heavens! what 48. 
volumes of thanks does '' I know that man [the 
America owe to Britain ! king] much better than 
What infinite obligation to any of you. Nature in- 
the tool that fills with tended him only for a good 
paradoxical vacancy the humored fool. A system- 
throne!" — Crisis, iii. atical education, with long 

"The connection between practice, has made him a 
vice and meanness is a fit consummate hypocrite. . . 
subject for satire, but when What would have been the 
the satire is a fact it cuts triumph of that odious hyp- 



COMMON SENSE. 89 

with the irresistible power ocrite and his minions if 
of a diamond. If a Qua- Wilkes had been defeated? 
ker, in defense of his just It was not your fault, rev- 
rights, his property, and the erend sir, that he did not 
chastity of his house, takes enjoy it completely/^ — Let. 
up a musket he is expelled 51, to Rev. Mr. Home, 
the meeting; but the pres- '^Though the Kennedies 
ent king of England, who were convicted of a most 
seduced and took into keep- deliberate and atrocious 
ing a sister of their society, murder, they still had a 
is reverenced and supported claim to the royal mercy, 
by repeated testimonies, They were saved by the 
while the friendly noodle chastity of their connec- 
from whom she was taken, tions. They had a sister ; 
and who is now in this city, yet it was not her beauty, 
continues a drudge in the but the pliancy of her vir-^ 
service of his rival, as if tue, that recommended her 
proud of being cuckolded to the king, 
by a creature called a '' The holy author of 
king.'^ — Crisis, iii. our religion was seen in 

The above will explain the company of sinners ; 
a passage in Junius — Let. but it was his gracious pur- 
56 — which is as follows: pose to convert them from 
" You must confess that their sins. Another man 
even Charles the Second who, in the ceremonies of 
would have blushed at that our faith, might give les- 
open encouragement, at sons to the great enemy of 
those eager, meretricious it, upon diiferent princi- 
caresses, with which every pies, keeps much the same 
species of private vice and company. He advertises 
public prostitution is re- for patients, collects all the 
ceived at St. James'." diseases of the heart, and 

turns a royal palace into 
an hospital for incurables. 
A man of honor has no 
ticket of admission at 
St. James'. They receive 
him like a virgin at the 



90 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

Magdalen's — ^ Go tliou and 
do likewise/'' — Let. 67, to 
Lord Mansfield. 

I will now make a few remarks upon Common 
Sense. I have introduced a few extracts to show its 
spirit, scope, and object ; and ih^ opinions, principles, 
language, and style of Mr. Paine. I have also thrown 
by the side of them the similar characteristics of 
Junius, but this is not all. 

Common Sense was to America what Junius would 
have been to England if the same success had attended 
it. There is a plan in Common Sense similar to that 
of Junius. It opens the new year with a new policy ; 
it begins by a contrast between society and government ; 
it attacks the government and defends the original 
rights of the people ; it assaults the king and his 
minions; it defends republicanism against royalty; it 
calls on the people to rebel against tlie tyrant, to take 
up arms in their defense, and to establish government 
upon the natural and original rights of the people. If 
one will study the two works he will find not only 
the general plan the same, but even in detail they 
strikingly correspond ; showing the same head to plan, 
and the same hand to execute. There is the same 
language, the same figures of speech, the same wit, the 
same method of argumentation, the same withering 
satire, the same appeals to Heaven, and the same 
bold, proud, unconquerable spirit, in the one as in the 
other. 

If Mr. Paine was Junius, these things would natu- 
rally be expected. And it would be expected, also, 
that having failed to produce the desired effect in 



COMMON SENSE. 91 

England^ and all farther effort there being at an end, 
that if Junius lived he would change his base of 
operations if a favorable opportunity offered, and strike 
once more for the liberties of the people. Thus the 
natural order of things leads us to an irresistible con- 
clusion. But in order not to be too hasty we ought to 
ask : Is there not one fact in the whole life and character 
of Mr. Paine incompatible wuth Junius? When it is 
found I will surrender the argument. But let us 
proceed. 

Nature is prodigal of varieties. No two individuals 
are alike, either in physical form or mental features. 
Great differences may be found even among those most 
resembling each other, but when we find a man 
prominent among his fellow-kind, it is because of 
marked characteristics in which he greatly differs from 
the rest. These characteristics are expressed in action. 
A record of these actions is the history of men. Faust 
gives us movable type, and Watt the steam-engine. 
Newton asks nature to reveal her mode of operation in 
the movement of matter. Bacon asks her for her 
method. Buckle inquires after the science of history. 
Napoleon was a magazine of war. And thus great 
minds reveal themselves in their own way; and the 
more striking and peculiar the characteristic, the more 
easily can we distinguish and describe the person. Mr. 
Paine was a literary adventurer. And unlike adven- 
turers in conquest or discovery, he left the record of his 
course as he went along. His was not a path in the 
sea, nor foot-prints in the sand, but a work like that 
of Euclid or Laplace, carved out of thought ; he called 



92 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

out of chaos a new world of politics; he fought 
great battles and won victories with the pen. To 
ivnow the man, then, we must examine his writings. 
To this end, therefore, I call the reader's attention to 
his style. 



STYLE. 

I WILL first make some concise remarks upon this 
subject, to aid us in comparing Junius with Mr. Paine; 
because I propose to show that the style of the one is 
the style of the other. 

Style, by most authors, is treated under the following 
heads : Perspicuity, Vivacity, and Beauty. Perspicuity, 
I define, the clear and true expression of our thoughts 
in the fewest words. Vivacity is the energy or life of 
expression ; it attracts the attention, and excites the 
^imagination. It takes the will by storm and produces 
conviction. Combined with perspicuity it becomes 
eloquence. Beauty is the harmony and smoothness of 
of expression, and is often made synonymous with 
elegance. 

The first requisite in style is perspicuity. It is a 
prevalent notion among the vulgar that clearness of 
expression leads to dryness and dullness in speaking or 
writing, owing to the plain garb in which ideas are 
clothed. But the fact is, the very reverse of this is true, 
and as the legitimate result. 

Words are said to be the signs of ideas, or symbols of 
thought. But words spoken is thought passing in the air ; 
they are ideas in invisible vibrations, and a sound can 
neither be a sign nor a symbol. But words written are sym- 

(93) 



94 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

bols of thought. Language addresses both the ear and the 
eye. The true end and aim of language is to make 
others feel the full force of an idea as it is felt by the 
speaker. Language must therefore be forever imperfect, 
and this from the nature of things, or at least till 
ideas can be silently conveyed upon the waves of some 
subtle nerve force. Ideas flit from the mind with the 
rapidity of lightning. To the inward beholder truth 
becomes visible at times instantaneously. He sees it, 
he feels it; it fills him with emotions; it struggles for 
utterance. Truth writhes to get free and become 
universally, instead of particularly, known and felt. It 
may be and is felt instantaneously, yet it can not be 
expressed in words for hours, and perhaps never; cer- 
tainly never as it should be. Truth rests in the mind, 
or flutters there in ideal beauty. It requires an artist 
transcending earthly perfection to breathe it to the 
ear or throw it out to the eye on canvas. The tongue 
and hand both fail, the sounds are discordant, and the 
lines are broken. In the one instance we have a jumble 
of sounds, and in the other a daub for a picture. 

It becomes apparent at once, the more words we use 
to express thought, the more it is cumbered with 
technicalities and idiomatic phrases, just so much 
more gross, and feeble, and uninviting it becomes, 
because robbed of its ideal beauty. But, on the con- 
trary, if a word or a look or a touch could express it, 
its beauty, and its power, and its worth would not be 
thus blemished. Byron would have spoken that word 
were it lightning. Hence arises the interest and charm 
in beholding the picture of an artist, wliere so much is 
revealed at a glance ; for it is thought which is 



STYLE. 95 

expressed there. Hence^ also, it becomes evident that 
far more can be expressed in a figure of speech, quickly 
and boldly put, than could be otherwise presented in 
hours or days. '' A single hieroglyphic character/' 
says Champoleon le June, ^Svould probably convey 
more to the mind of an ancient Egyptian than a quarto 
page would to a European." 

Perspicuity, therefore, is not necessarily devoid of 
energy or elegance, in. fact the only means to secure a 
clear and concise style is- to use the trope — especially 
in the two forms of metaphor and comparison : observ- 
ing always that long and labored figures of speech are 
generally ambiguous, and always have a bad effect. 
Their beauty, and worth, and power consist in the 
brevity and clearness with which they are expressed. 
^' The thought expressed in a single line by Chaucer," 
says Lord Kames, " gives more luster to a young 
beauty, than the whole of his much labored poem, 

" Up rose the sun, and up rose Emilie." 

Perspicuity, then, we would consider the very soul of 
vivacity, and vivacity the soul of eloquence. 

The elegance or beauty of expression is of far less 
consequence, and must often be sacrificed to the very 
nature of ideas. It can not be said that all ideas are 
beautiful. There are uncomely and hideous things on 
earth ; there are disagreeable and hateful subjects to be 
spoken of, and there are painful feelings to be expressed. 
Language would fail to subserve the end for which it 
exists, did it not correspond to the sources of thought 
and the objects to be described; otherwise it would not 
be language. To be elegant, therefore, at all times, in 



96 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

speaking or writing, involves an absnrdity, inasmuch 
as only a part of our ideas could be expressed were this 
the case. The simple narration of facts enlightens ; 
elegance soothes and pleases ; but vivacity moves to 
action. It is the duty of the writer to make liis style 
and language correspond with his subject. 

Keeping the foregoing principles in view, the reader 
may apply such terms to the piece he reads, or the 
discourse he hears, as may be most fitting. It is thus 
we speak of concise, diffuse, bold, feeble, nervous, plain, 
neat, dry, or flowery styles. A full sentence or period, 
as it is called, must therefore have: 1. Precision; that 
is, it must be clear and not ambiguous : 2. Unity ; that 
is, it must not have crowded into it different subjects : 
3. Strength; that is, all unnecessary words must be 
thrown away, and it must be built with such mechan- 
ical skill as will render it the most forcible to the mind: 
and, 4. Harmony; that is, it must sound with the 
sense. 

For the purpose of an argument, it is immaterial to 
me whether I have cause to praise or censure the style 
of Mr. Paine. It is a comparison of the known with the 
unknown, in which I am about to engage, and it is 
the likeness, not the merits, which I wish to bring out. 
A good or a bad style would not affect the similarity 
were either produced by the same hand. But it is a 
fact worthy of remark, as I am passing, that a bad 
style in writing or speaking, has never produced any 
marked effect upon the world. It is th'e nature of 
great minds to be possessed of clear ideas, and to such 
minds nature never withholds the gift of purity of 
diction. , 



STYLE. 97 

The style of Mr. Paine is as peculiar as the great mind 
that produced it, and I will describe it to be : strong, 
hold, clear, and harmonious. The construction of any 
of his pieces, is like the building of a fine edifice. He 
never begins witliout plan and specifications. He 
builds it in the ideal before he puts it on paper. 
The reader finds a foundation fit and substantial in the 
first paragraph, often in the first sentence. Upon this 
he finds a superstructure to correspond, which in size 
and proportions, is neat and artistic, constructed with 
each separate material of the best kind, and in its 
proper place, never left without cornice and entablature, 
so that when taken all together it is most pleasing and 
useful. He never leaves a period like a broken column, 
yet a careless vine sometimes winds around it, to attract 
the mind from its stately proportions, and we have lost 
the argument in the beauty of the figure. But the 
effect is momentary. He soon brings us back to the 
practical and the real. And it is his peculiar beauty, 
that he does not impose ideas upon us which his lan- 
guage can not convey to the commonest understanding. 

Mr. Jefferson says of his style: "^o writer has 
exceeded Paine in familiarity of style, in perspicuity of 
expression, happiness of elucidation, and in simple and 
unassuming language.'^ 

Style presents the law, as well as the image, of the 
writers' mind; in other words, style gives us the true 
portrait and habits of the mind, for the mind can by 
no means counterfeit itself. I will therefore proceed to 
an analysis and comparison of Mr. Paine's style with 
that of Junius; and, first, of the sentence, or period. 
The different members are of the same length, hence the 



98 juniUjS unmasked. 

rythm or harmony. Take tlie following examples, and 
I will place bars between the cliiFerent members to aid 
the eye : 

^' The style and langnaga you have adopted are, I 
confess, | not ill suited to the elegance of your own man- 
ners, I or to the dignity of the cause you have under- 
taken. I Every common dauber writes rascal and villain 
under his pictures, | because the pictures themselves 
have neither character nor resemblance. | But the works 
of a master require no index ; | his features and coloring 
are taken from nature; | the impression is immediate 
and uniform ; | nor is it possible to mistake the charac- 
ters, I whether they represent the treachery of a minis- 
ter, "I or the abused simplicity of a king.^^ | 

^' Were I disposed to paint a contrast, | I could easily 
set off what you have done in the present case | against 
what you would have done in that case, | and by justly 
opposing them, | conclude a picture that would make 
you blush. | But as, when any of the prouder passions 
are hurt, | it is much better philosophy | to let a man 
slip into a good temper | than to attack him in a bad 
one — I for that reason, therefore, I only state the 
case, I and leave you to reflect upon it.^' | 

^^Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, | can 
ye restore to us the time that is past? | Can ye give to 
prostitution its former innocence? | Neither can ye re- 
concile Britain and America. | The last cord now is 
broken — | the people of England are presenting ad- 
dresses against us. | There are injuries which nature 
can not forgive — | she would cease to be nature if she 
did. I As well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his 



STYLE. 99 

mistress^ | as the continent forgive the murders of 
Britain/' | 

" The question is not of what metal your instruments 
are made, | but whether they are adapted to the work 
you have in hand. | Will they grant you common halls 
when it shall be necessary ? | Will they go up with re- 
monstrances to the king? | Have they firmness enough 
to meet the fury of a venal House of Commons? | Have 
they fortitude enough not to shrink at imprisonment? | 
Have they spirit enough to hazard their lives and for- 
tunes in a contest, | if it should be necessary, with a 
prostituted legislature? j If these questions can fairly 
be answered in the affirmative, your choice is made. | 
Forgive this passionate language. | I am unable to cor- 
rect it. I The subject comes home to us all. [ It is the 
language of my heart." | 

The above is sufficient. The first and last paragraphs 
are from Junius, the other two from Paine. The last 
two paragraphs are passionate, the first two calm but 
energetic. Throughout the whole, nature is at work — 
there is nothing artificial. But it was the melody or 
rythm that I wished to indicate to the reader. This is 
peculiar and common to both, and itself can not be imi- 
tated. If a writer ever succeeds in reproducing this 
style, it will be from the nature of his own mind, and 
not from imitation. 

If the reader will now return to page 71, and com- 
pare the Dedication to Junius with the Introduction to 
Common Sense, he will find in rythm a striking par- 
allel, because the subject is the same, and the mind 
of the writer is performing the same work. 
7 



100 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

Grammatical accuracy is often sacrificed to concise- 
ness, as in the following: 

Paine. Junius. 

" Many circumstances ^' If this be your meaning 
have and will arise which and opinion, you will act 
are not local/^^ — Introduc. consistently with ^7 in choos- 
ing Mr. Nash/^~Let. 57. 

Mr. Paine was bold enough to transcend the minor 
rules of grammar whenever he found them cumbersome 
to his style. In this he is consistent witli Junius. 

There is a majesty of manner, and a grandeur of 
style, which strike the mind of the reader with great 
force. Take, for example, the following : 

Paine. Junius. 

" It w^as not Newton's " You have still an hon- 
honor, neither could it be orable part to act. The af- 
his pride, that he was an fections of your subjects 
Englishman, but that he may still be recovered; but, 
was a philosopher; the before you subdue their 
heavens had liberated him hearts, you must gain a no- 
from the prejudices of an ble victory over your own. 
island, and science had ex- Discard those little personal 
panded his soul as bound- resentments which have too 
less as his studies." — Cri- long directed your public 
sis, viii. conduct. Pardon this man 

^' The heart that feels not the remainder of his punish- 
now is dead ; the blood of ment ; and, if resentment 
his children will curse his still prevails, make it what 
cowardice who shrinks back it should have been long 
at a time when a little since — an act, not of mercy, 
might have saved the but of contempt. He will 



STYLE. 101 

whole, and made them hap- soon fall back into his nat- 
py. I love the man that ural station, a silent sena- 
can smile in trouble, that tor, and hardly supporting 
can gather strength from the weekly eloquence of 
distress, and grow brave by a newspaper. The gentle 
reflection." . . . Speak- breath of peace would leave 
ing of the principles of war, him on the surface neglect- 
he continues : ^^ What sig- ed and unremoved ; it is 
nifies it to me whether he only the tempest that lifts 
who does it is a king or a him from his place, 
common man ; my country- " Without consulting 
man or not my country- your ministers, call together 
man ; whether it be done your whole council. Let it 
by an individual villain or appear to the public that 
an army of them ? . . . you can determine and act 
Let them call me rebel and for yourself. Come forward 
welcome ; I feel no concern to your people. Lay aside 
from it, but I should suffer the wretched formalities of 
the misery of devils were I a king, and speak to your 
to make a whore of my subjects with the spirit of 
soul by swearing allegiance a man, and in the language 
to one whose character is of a gentleman, 
that of a sottish, stupid, These sentiments, sir, and 
stubborn, worthless, brutish the style they are conveyed 
man ! . . . There are in, may be ofPensive, per- 
cases which can not be over- haps, because they are new 
done by language, and this to you." — Let. 35. 
is one."— Crisis, i. 

In the following, diminutives are handled with tell- 
ing effect : 

Paine, Junius. 

"Indolence and inability "About this time the 
have too large a share in courtiers talked of nothing 
your composition ever to but a bill of pains and pen- 
suffer you to be any thing alties against the lord 
more than the hero of lit- mayor and sheriffs, or im- 



102 JUNIUiS UNMASKED. 

tie villainies and unfinished peachment at the least, 

adventures/^ — To Lord Little Mannikin Ellis told 

Howe, Crisis, v. the king that if the busi- 

^' That a man whose soul ness were left to his man- 
is absorbed in the low traf- agement he would engage 
fie of vulgar vice, is inca- to do wonders. It was 
pable of moving in any su- thought very odd that a 
perior region, is clearly business of so much im- 
shown in you by the event portance should be intrust- 
of every campaign. ^^ — To ed to the most contempti- 
Lord Howe, Crisis, v. ble little piece of machin- 

^^ You may plan and ex- ery in the whole kingdom, 

ecute little mischiefs, but His honest zeal, however, 

are they worth the expense was disappointed. The 

they cost you, or will such minister took fright, and at 

partial evils have any efiect the very instant that little 

on the general cause ? Ellis was going to open, 

Your expedition to Egg sent him an order to sit 

Harbor will be felt at a down. All their magnan- 

distance like an attack up- imous threats ended in a 

on a hen-roost, and expose ridiculous vote of censure, 

you in Europe with a sort and a still more ridiculous 

of childish frenzy.'^ — Crisis, address to the king." — 

vi. Note, Let. 38. 

The reader will observe that the method also of rid- 
icule is the same. A hundred examples of this might 
be selected from both ; and he has, doubtless, already 
noticed the biting satire of both. The Letters of Jun- 
ius are among the finest specimens of satire in the Eng- 
lish language, and are only equaled by Mr. Paine^s 
Letters to Lord Howe, and passages in his Rights of Man 
to Mr. Burke. I will give a few extracts. It will be 
remembered how Junius called the king not only a 
'^ruffian," but said "nature only intended him for a 
good humored fool," and that if he ever retired to 



STYLE. 103 

America he would get a severe covenant to digest from 
a people who united in detesting the pageantry of a 
king and the supercilious hypocrisy of a bishop. With 
this remembrance I will submit the following piece of 
satire from Crisis, No. vi : 

" Your rightful sovereign, as you call him, may do 
well enough for you, who dare not inquire into the 
humble capacities of the man ; but we, who estimate 
persons and things by their real worth, can not suffer 
our judgment to be so imposed upon; and unless it is 
your wish to see him exposed, it ought to be your en- 
deavor to keep him out of sight. The less you have to 
say about him the better. We have done with him, 
and that ought to be answer enough. You have been 
often told so. Strange! that the answer must be so 
often repeated. You go a begging with your king as 
with a brat, or with some unsalable commodity you 
are tired of; and though every body tells you no, no, 
still you keep hawking him about. But there is one 
that will have him in a little time, and as we have no 
inclination to disappoint you of a customer, we bid 
nothing for him." 

Many passages of similar severity could be collected. 
In fact, the two Letters addressed to Lord Howe are 
not equaled in force or severity by the most savage 
of Junius^ productions. I now call attention to other 
parallel peculiarities. 

The manner of threatening, commanding, and warn- 
ing, is the same : 

Paine, Junius. 

" I hold up a warning to " The English nation 



104 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

your senses, if you have must be roused and put 
any left. . . I call, not upon its guard. . . The 
with the rancor of an ene- corruption of the legisla- 
my, but the earnestness of tive body on this side, a 
a friend, on the deluded military force on the other, 
people of England. . . . and then farewell to Eng- 
There is not a nobleman's land." — Let. 40. 
country seat but may be ^' Sullen and severe with- 
laid in ashes by a single out religion, profligate 
person.^' — Crisis, vi. without gayety, you live 

"A change of the minis- like Charles the Second, 
try in England may proba- without being an amiable 
bly bring your measures companion, and, for aught 
into question and your head I know, may die as his 
to the block.'' — To Lord father did, without the 
Howe, Crisis, v. reputation of a martyr." — 

^'Go home, sir, and en- Let. 12. 
deavor to save the remains " Return, my lord, be- 
of your rained country by fore it be too late, to that 
a just representation of the easy, insipid system which 
madness of her measures, you first set out with. 
A few moments well ap- Take back your mistress, 
plied may yet preserve her Indulge the people. At- 
from political destruction." tend New Market. To be 
— Crisis, V. weak and inactive is safer 

\^^ The farce of monarchy than to be daring and 
"jand aristocracy in all coun- criminal ; and wide is the 
tries is following that of distance between a riot of 
chivalry, and Mr. Burke the populace and a convul- 
is dressing for the funeral, sion of the whole king- 
The time is not very distant dom." — Let. 11. 
when England will laugh " The period is not very 
at itself for sending to Hoi- distant at Avhich you will 
land, Hanover, Zell, or have the means of redress 
Brunswick, for men, at the in your own power ; it may 
expense of a million a year, be nearer, perhaps, than 
who understand neither her any of us expect, and I 
laws, her language, nor her would warn you to be pre- 



STYLE. 105 

interest, and whose capaci- pared for it.^^ — Dedica- 
ties would scarcely have tion. 
fitted them for the office of 
parish constable." — Rights 
of Man. 

But examples of this kind are not wanting in any 
chapter or Letter. The threat, the command, the warn- 
ing, is a peculiarity so prominent that no one would 
fail to observe it. And this peculiarity often passes 
into the style of prophecy. As above, Junius says : 
" The period is not very distant/' and Mr. Paine re- 
peats the expression in the same style : " The time is 
not very distant.'^ This reveals, not a literary theft, 
but a mind whose mode of thinking and expression 
was ever the same. 

The reader will furthermore notice the peculiarity 
in the use of " sir," and the expressions, '^ You, Sir 
William," '^ You, sir," so common to both. This 
arises from the proud and commanding character of 
Mr. Paine. He always talks as one having authority, 
when addressing those he wishes to satirize, but with 
an avowed modesty when addressing those he wishes 
to influence. This last is seen in Junius, with regard 
to Lords Rockingham and Chatham, when speaking 
of parliamentary reform, and in Common Sense, when 
speaking of a constitution and methods of taxation. 
Junius says, after giving his own views: "Other 
measures may, undoubtedly, be supported in argu- 
ment, as better adapted to the disorder, or more likely 
to be obtained." And Common Sense says: "In a 
former page I threw out a few thoughts on the pro- 



106 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

priety of a continental charter^ for I only presume to 
offer hints, not plans." These things point to the 
same mental source, and this characteristic influences 
the style to a marked degree. 

I call attention now to what is termed alliteration: 
the bringing words together commencing with the same 
letter, as follows : 

Paine, Jvmius. 

Best and brightest. 

Conduct and character. Character and conduct. 

Mark the movements and Concurrence of calami- 
meaning, tons circumstances. 

For law as for land. Catchpenny contrivance. 

Fears and falsities. Dignity of the design. 

Prejudice and preposses- Enormous excesses. 
sion. Faith and folly. 

Patron and punisher. Fashionable formality. 

Wise and worthy. Pernicious principles, etc. 

Stay and starve. Good faith and folly 

Reconciliation and ruin have long been received as 

are nearly related. synonymous terms. 

s 

The above are only a few examples. Almost every 
page exhibits this feature of the writer. It is a mania 
with Mr. Paine, and it is almost the first observable 
feature of Junius. No other author that I have read 
so abounds in alliteration. But herein Junius and 
Mr. Paine, not content with two words, frequently 
unite three, as in some of the examples above. They 
also bring two words thus together, and ascending from 
the sound to the sense, give them relationship in mean- 
ing; as in the last examples above. 



STYLE. 107 

As alliteration exhibits a law of the mind, it can 
easily be determined, by the rule of averages, whether 
Mr. Paine and Junius agree. I have estimated the 
ratio by counting twenty thousand words in each, and 
have found them to average the same. Were all the 
words in Junius counted and compared with the same 
number in Mr. Paine's political writings, it would give 
the true law of averages, but twenty thousand words 
will give an approximation not far from the truth. 

There is another peculiarity in the style of Mr. 
Paine and Junius, arising out of this law of the mind, 
or this mania for alliteration, which is to continue the 
alliteration throughout the paragraph. For example, 
if a prominent word begins with an f, t, or p, or any 
other letter, he continues to select words beginning 
with the same letter, or in which the sound is promi- 
nent, while expressing the same thought or idea. In 
the following he ])lays upon like letters in a wonder- 
ful manner. I will put the words in italics : 

Paine. Junius. 

" Perhaps the sentiments *' Prejudices and passions 

contained in the following have, sometimes, carried it 

'pages, are not yet sufficient- to a criminal length, and 

ly fashionable to procure whatever foreigners may 

them general favor; a long imagine, we know that 

habit of not thinhing a thing Englishmen have erred as 

wrong gives it a superficial much in a mistaken zeal for 

appearance of being 7'ight, pai^ticular persons and fam- 

and raises, at first, a for- Hies as they ever did in de- 

midable outcry in defense of fense of what they thought 

custom. But the tumult most dear and interesting 

soon subsides. Time makes to themselves.'^ — Let. 1. 
more converts than reason.'^ 
C. S., Introd. 



108 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

I have not gone out of my way for the above ex- 
amples. Thousands of just such examples may be 
taken from both. This, together with the even length 
of the members of the period, is what produces the 
rythm and harmony of Mr. Paine^s style, and which I 
have never seen paralleled, except in Junius. I have 
con^pared it with a hundred authors, and never have I 
found any thing like it. But Junius is in no respect 
unlike Mr. Paine. Had a perfect portrait been 
painted of Mr. Paine, at the time he wrote his Com- 
mon Sense, and another at the time Junius wrote his 
Letters, the two portraits could not have more resem- 
bled each other than does the style of Junius resemble 
that of Mr. Paine. And this is what can not be imi- 
tated, for it arises out of the constitution of the mind, 
just like poetry or music; and the poet and musician 
are born, not made. 

Mr. Paine and Junius never use poetry, unless it be 
a line at the head of a piece. And they both ridicule 
the use of it in prose composition. 

Paine. Jmiiiis. 

'^ I can consider Mr. " These letters, my lord, 

Burke's book in scarcely are read in other countries 

any other light than a and in other languages, 

dramatic performance, and and I think I may affirm 

he must, I think, have without vanity, that the 

considered it in the same gracious character of the 

light himself by the j9oej^ica^ best of princes is by this 

liberties he has taken of time not only perfectly 

omitting some facts, dis- known to his subjects, but 

torting others, and making tolerably well understood 

the machinery bend to pro- by the rest of Europe. In 

duce a stage effect. . . . this respect alone I have 



STYLE. 



109 



I have now to follow Mr. the advantage of Mr, 
Burke through a pathless AVhitehead. His plan, I 
wilderness of rhapsodies.^^ think, is too narrow. He 



-Rights of Man, part i. 



seems to manufacture his 
verses for the sole use of 
the hero who is supposed to 
be the subject of them, and, 
that his meaning may not 
be exported in foreign bot- 
toms, sets all translation at 
defiance.^'— Let. 49. 



They sometimes wander from the point, and then 
bring the reader back by mentioning the fact : 



Paine. 



Junius. 



'^ But to return to the " But, sir, I am sensible 
case in question." — Crisis, I have followed your ex- 
vii and xiii. ^^ Passing on ample too long, and wan- 
from this digression, I shall dered from the point." — 
now endeavor to bring into Let. 18. 
one view the several parts." 
— Crisis, viii. " But to re- 
turn to my account." — 
Rights of Man, part i. 

Another peculiarity is the method of bringing the 
subject " into one view :" 



Paine. 



Junius. 



See last quotation above. " This, sir, is the detail. 
" Having now finished this In one view, behold," etc. 
subject, I shall bring the — Let. 1. 
several parts into one See also Letter 13. 
view." — Rights of Man, 
part ii. 



110 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

I have before called attention to the manner in which 
Mr. Paine signed his Introduction to Common Sense, 
and Junius his Dedication; but there is a similarity in 
the manner in which they frequently close their pieces. 
The expressions, "To conclude," "I shall conclude," 
" I shall therefore conclude," are used by both. 

There is a marked peculiarity in taking illustrations 
from the Bible, and I now speak of and compare the 
political writings of Mr. Paine with Junius. Junius is 
filled with such references, and they are no less plenti- 
ful in Common Sense. This leads me on to speak of 
figures of speech. 

In the use of the trope I find the one a reproduction 
of the other. The metaphor comes before us in every 
conceivable beauty, and herein they paint with an art- 
ist's skill, and the many delicate touches, as well as bold 
strokes, show the same hand at the brush. There is 
never, for example, a long and labored metaphor ; never 
a company of them together; never one that does not 
apply with admirable effect. 

At the close of ai:^ article, a figure of speech is often 
used with a master's skill, and leaves an impression on 
the mind of the reader not easily effaced. In this they 
are alike. Junius, for example, closes thirty-six of his 
Letters in this manner; and in Mr. Paine's three works — 
Common Sense, The Crisis, and Eights of Man — he 
closes twenty-three parts in this manner, which gives 
us about the same ratio. They both abound in meta- 
phor and comparison. Seldom do they use allegory or 
hyperbole, but personification and exclamation are fre- 



STYLE. Ill 

quento I will now give a few parallels which I have 
selected from the many examples^ and I will begin the 
list with exclamations so common to both : 

Paine, Junius, 

Alas! But^ alas! 

I thank God! I thank God! 

For God's sake ! Would to God ! 
In the name of Heaven ! In God's name ! 

Good God! May God protect me! 

Good Heavens! I appeal to God for my 

I pray God ! sincerity ! 

The expression, " I thank God !" is the most frequent 
with both. As this is not common with writers, the 
parallel is a strong one. But to continue : 

Paine, Junius, 

" Every political physi- " It is not the disorder, 
cian will advise a differ- but the physician — it is the 
ent medicine.'' — Common pernicious hand of govern- 
Sense. ment." — Let. 1. 

^* Why is the nation sick- " Infuse a portion of new 
ly?" health into the constitu- 

tion."— Let. 68. 

"Like a prodigal lin- "No man regards an 
gering in habitual con- eruption on the surface 
sumption, you feel the relics when the noble parts are 
of life, and mistake them invaded and he feels a mor- 
for recovery." — Address to tification approaching the 
English people. heart." — Let. 39. 

" These are the times that " These are not the times 
try men's souls." — Crisis, i. to admit of any relaxation 

in the little discipline we 
have left." 



112 



JUNIUS UNMASKED. 



The constituents "mak- 
ing a rod for themselves/^ 

Speaking of Abbe Ray- 
naPs work, he calls it a 
^^ performanGeJ^ — Letter to. 

"At stake/' This ex- 
pression is very frequent. 

^' In one view.'' Quite 
frequent. 

" The time is not very 
distant." 

" The simple voice of 
nature and reason will say 
it is right." 

" Where nature hath 
given the one she hath 
withheld the other." 

"For as the greater 
weight will always carry 
up the less, and all the 
wheels of .a machine are put 
in motion by one, it only 
remains to know which 
power in the constitution 
has most weight." 



" One of the strongest 
natural proofs of the folly 
of hereditary right in kings 
is that nature disapproves 
it, otherwise she would not 
so frequently turn it into 
ridicule by giving mankind 
an ass for a lion." 



"Under the rod of the 
constituent." 

Speaking of M. de 
Lolme's Essay on Govern- 
ment, he calls it a ^^perform- 



ance: 



-Preface. 



"At stake." This ex- 
pression is very frequent. 

"In one view." Quite 
frequent. 

" The period is not very 
distant." 

" The voice of truth and 
reason must be silent." 

" Nature has been spar- 
ing of her gifts to this 
noble lord." 

" We incline the balance 
as effectually by lessening 
the weight in the one scale 
as by increasing it in the 
other." 

"You would fain be 
thought to take no share 
in government, while in 
reality you are the main- 
spring of the machine." 

" It is you. Sir William, 
who make your friend ap- 
pear awkward and ridicu- 
lous, by giving him a laced 
suit of tawdry qualifications 
which nature never intended 
him to wear." < 



STYLE. 113 

In the last metaphor nature personified is brought 
forward as the actor, by turning to ridicule the vanity 
of man in assuming more than he is, Junius, without 
expressing it in words, has put forward the fable of 
the ass in a lion's skin, when speaking of Lord Gran- 
by's courage. But Mr. Paine has applied the same 
fable to the king. The figures are differently ex- 
pressed but exactly the same. 

Paine. Junius. 

" Like wasting an estate " Like broken tenants 
on a suit at law to regulate who have had warning to 
the trespasses of a tenant, quit the premises, they 
whose lease is just expir- curse their landlord, de- 
iug." stroy the fixtures, throw 

every thing into confusion, 
and care not what mischief 
they do the estate," 

The above is the same figure, but differently applied. 
This figure is quite often used by Mr. Paine and Junius. 

Paine. Junius. 

" Quitting this class of " I turn with pleasure 
men, I turn with the warm from that barren waste in 
ardor of a friend, to those which no salutary plant 
who have nobly stood and takes root, no verdure 
are yet determined to stand quickens, to a character fer- 
the matter out. I call not tile as I willingly believe 
upon a few, but upon all, in every great and good 
up and help us; lay your qualification. I call upon 
shoulders to the wheel." — you, in the name of the 
Crisis, i. English nation, to stand 

forth in defense of the laws 
of your country and to ex- 
ert in the cause of truth 



114 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

and justice those great abilities with which you were 
intrusted for the benefit of mankind." — Let. 68. 

There are two facts in the above parallel showing 
that the same mind indited both. First : Turning 
away from those who have deserved and who have been 
receiving his censure to the friends of the cause ; 
and, Secondly: The call which immediately follows: 
^^I call upon you." That it was not stolen from 
Junius by Mr. Paine, is proven by two facts. First : 
The language and figure are different; and, Secondly: 
That which makes it a parallel it is impossible to steal. 
It is a parallel of conditions, the one in England and 
the other in America. But if Junius were not Mr. Paine, 
then would the conditions be destroyed. But there is 
a parallel of conditions, which can not be plagiarized ; 
therefore Thomas Paine was Junius. 

If it be argued in answer to this reasoning : There 
might be just such conditions existing with the char- 
acter Junius in England as with Paine in America, 
which might produce a parallel as above, I admit the 
possibility ; but the chances are infinity to one against 
such a hypothesis. 

But to reduce the chances still more, let us bring a 
parallel of fact to illustrate a principle of national 
honor. 

Paine. Junius. 

" There is such an idea " If we recollect in what 

in the world as that of na- manner the king^s friends 

tional honor, and this false- have been constantly em- 

ly understood is oftentimes ployed, we shall have no 

the cause of war. In a reason to be surprised at 



STYLE. 115 

Christian and philosophical any condition of disgrace 

sense mankind seem to have to which the once respected 

stood still at individual name of Englishman may 

civilizations, and to retain be degraded 

as nations all the original The expedition against 
rudeness of nature. Peace Port Egmont does not ap- 
by treaty is only a cessa- pear to have been a sudden 
tion of violence for a refor- ill-concerted enterprise : it 
mation of sentiment. It is seems to have been con- 
a substitute for a principle ducted, not only with the 
that is wanting and ever usual military precautions, 
will be wanting till the idea but in all the forms and 
of national honor is rightly ceremonies of war. A 
understood. I remember frigate was first employed 
the late Admiral Saunders to examine the strength of 
declaring in the House of the place. A message was 
Commons, and that in the then sent demanding im- 
time of peace, ^ That the mediate possession in the 
city of Madrid laid in ashes Catholic king's name, and 
was not a sufficient atone- ordering our people to de- 
ment for the Spaniards tak- part. At last a military 
ing off the rudder of an force appears and compels 
English sloop of war.' I the garrison to surrender. 
do not ask whether this is A formal capitulation en- 
Christianity or morality, I sues, and his majesty's ship, 
ask whether it is decency ? which might at least have 
whether it is proper Ian- been permitted to bring 
guage for a nation to use? home his troops immedi- 
In private life we call it ately, is detained in port 
by the plain name of bully- twenty days and her rud- 
ing, and the elevation of der forcibly taken away. 
rank can not alter its char- This train of facts carries 
acter. It is, I think, ex- no appearance of the rash- 
ceedingly easy to define ness or violence of a Span- 
what ought to be under- ish governor. Mr. Bucca- 
stood by national honor ; relli is not a pirate, nor has 
for that which is the best he been treated as such by 
character for an individual those who employed him. 
8 



116 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

is the best character for a I ^eel for the honor of a 
nation ; and wherever the gentleman when I affirm 
latter exceeds or falls be- that our king owes him a 
neath the former, there is a signal reparation. When 
departure from the line of will the humility of this 
true greatness." — Crisis, country end? A king 
vii. of Great Britain, not con- 

tented with placing himself 
upon a level with a Span- 
ish governor, descends so 
low as to do a notorious injustice to that gover- 
nor. Thus it happens in private life with a man who 
has no spirit nor sense of honor. One of his equals 
orders a servant to strike him : instead of returning the 
blow to the master, his courage is contented with throw- 
ing an aspertion equally false and public upon the 
character of the servant." — Let. 42. 

The above parallel, like the preceding one, arises 
primarily in the mind from the association of ideas. 
The definition of national honor is the same, and arose 
out of the same transaction. Taking away the rudder 
from an English frigate was a national insult, but 
instead of demanding reparation of the king of Spain, 
the king of England would satisfy his honor by attack- 
ing a king's servant, which furnishes the materials for 
the censure of Junius, and Admiral Saunders would be 
satisfied to see the city of Madrid laid in ashes, which 
furnishes the just ground for the aspersions of Mr. Paine; 
and from thence they define national honor to be that 
deportment which is best suited to an individual. They 
both state the case, and then define ; the method and 
figures are the same. But there is another parallel in 
these two pieces, and in the same connection. Mr. 
Paine and Junius both use very harsh language in 



STYLE. 117 

commenting on the facts in the case, and when they 
close their censure they say : 

Paine. Junius. 

" This, perhaps, may " These are strong terms, 

sound harsh and uncourtly, sir, but they are supported 

but it is too true, and the by fact and argument." 
more is the pity." 

This apology taken in the same connection, shows 
the same mind, for it is a law of nature, whether ex- 
hibited in mind or matter, that when given the same 
conditions the same results follow. Now if Thomas 
Paine be not Junius, then would no such parallels be 
found ; for, as before remarked, literary theft is impossi- 
ble, inasmuch as conditions can not be stolen, and more 
especially the most important condition in the above 
case, mental constitution. In other words the case is 
stated by the same person, in the same style, but not in 
the same language 

Paine. Junius. 

^^This plain language "These sentiments, sir, 
may, perhaps, sound un- and the style they are con- 
courtly to an ear vitiated veyed in, may be offensive 
by courtly refinements, but perhaps, because they are 
words were made for use, new to you. Accustomed 
and the fault lies in deserv- to the language of courtiers, 
ing them, or the abuse in you measure their affections 
applying them unfairj^^ " by the vehemence of their 
— Crisis, ii. expressions ; and when they 

only praise you indifferently 
you admire their sincerity." 
—Let. 35. 



118 



JUNIUS UNMASKED. 



Paine, 
" Like a stream of water.'' 
"Slave in buff/' 

" My creed in politics." 

" Expressed myself over- 
warmly." 

'^By following the pas- 
sion and stupidity of the 
pilot you wrecked the ves- 
sel within sight of the 
shore." Applied to Eng- 
land. 

*^ It needs no painting 
of mine to set it off, for na- 
ture can only do it justice." 

" She [England] set out 
with the title of parent or 
mother country. The as- 
sociation of ideas which 
naturally accompany this 
expression are filled with 
every thing that is fond, 
tender, and forbearing. 
They have an energy pe- 
culiar to themselves, and 
overlooking the accidental 
attachment of natural af- 
fection apply with infinite 
softness to the first feelings 
of the heart." 



" That men never turn 
rogues without turning 



Junius. 

"Like a rapid torrent." 

" Cream-colored para- 
site." 

" Political creed we pro- 
fess." 

" Passionate language." 

" In the shipwreck of the 
state, trifles float and are 
preserved, while every 
thing solid and valuable 
sinks to the bottom and is 
lost forever." 

" The works of a master 
require no index ; his fea- 
tures and coloring are taken 
from nature." 

" With all his mother's 
softness.'^ 

[Mr. Paine argued 
against this title of 
" mother country " being 
applied to England. And 
what is remarkable, Junius 
was never betrayed into it, 
even with all his prejudice 
in favor of the English na- 
tion hanging about him. 
In Letter 1, he speaks of 
England as having " alien- 
ated the colonies from their 
natural affection to their 
common country," and in 
no place says parent or 
mother country. This fact 
is a striking parallel.] 

" There is a proverb con- 
cerning persons in the pre- 



STYLE. 119 

fools, is a maxim sooner or dicament of this gentleman, 
later universally true/' — ^ They commence dupes, and 
Crisis, iii. finish knaves/ '^ — Let. 49. 

" The corrupt and aban- ^* Corruption glitters in 
doned court of Britain.^' the van, collects and main- 
tains a standing army of 
mercenaries." 
" Trembling duplicity of ^' In that state of aban- 
a spaniel.^' doned servility and prosti- 

tution." ..." The min- 
istry, abandoned as they 
are." . 
" i^gony of a wounded " When the mind is tor- 
mind." tured." 

" Compound of reasons." " Compound his ideas." 
" Nothing but the sharp- " He was forced to go 
est essence of villainy com- through every division, re- 
pounded with the strongest solution, composition, and 
distillation of folly, could refinement of political 
have produced a menstruum chemistry before he hap- 
that would have effected a pily arrived at the caput 
separation." — Crisis, iii. mortuum of vitriol in your 

grace. Flat and insipid in 
your retired state ; but 
brought into action you be- 
come vitriol again." — Let. 
15. 

In the above Mr. Paine applies this figure of polit- 
ical chemistry to the causes which led to the separation 
of the colonies from England. Junius is speaking to 
the Duke of Grafton. ^^ Menstruum ^^ and ^^ Caput mor- 
titum/' are old chemical terms. The former means that 
which will dissolve, and the latter the worthless matter 
which is left. They are both figures of analysis, and 
show the writer to have given his attention, to chemis- 
try. Mr. Paine, it is well known, in 1775, shortly after 



120 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

arriving in America, '^set his talents to work^^ to mahe 
saltpeter by some cheap and expeditious method, and 
formed an association to supply gratuitously the na- 
tional magazines with powder. This fact also shows 
that Mr. Paine came to America to fight England ; for 
it was before he had written his Common Sense. His 
object was, to be prepared; his method was, first the 
powder and then the Declaration of Independence, 
which last was produced by the pamphlet Common 
Sense. 

Paine. Junius. 

"It renders man dimin- "Women, and men like 
utive in things that are women, are timid, vindic- 
great, and the counterfeit of tive, and irresolute.^^ — Let. 
woman in things that are 41. 
small/^ — Rights of Man, 
part i. 

•' Fact is superior to rea- " The plain evidence of 
soning.^^ — Rights of Man, facts is superior to all dec- 
part ii., chap. i. larations.^^ — Let. 5. 

" You sunk yourself be- " You are degraded be- 
low the character of a pri- low the condition of a man." 
vate gentleman." — Crisis, — Let. 34. 
ii. 

" Now if I have any con- " I thought, however, he 
ception of the human heart, had been better read in the 
they will fail in this more history of the human heartJ^ 
than in any thing they have — Let. 27. 
yet tried." — Crisis, iii. 

Mr. Paine and Junius both reasoned, and this very 
often, from the nature of man, and especially his pas- 
sions. The following are parallels : 



STYLE. 121 

Paine. Junius. 

"■ Spirit of prophecy." " Spirit of prophecy." 

'' Man of spirit." " Man of spirit." 

" Air of." '' Air of." 

'' Strokes of." " Strokes of." 

'' Give color to." *' Give color to." 

'^ Tranquillity of." '' Tranquillity of." 

^^ Narrow views." ^' Narrow views." 

'^ But the great hinge on " This is not the hinge on 
which the whole machine which the debate turns." — 
turned^ is the union of the Let. 16. 
States.^' — Crisis, xv., note. 

" Each individual feels " I consider nothing but 
his share of the wound the wound which has been 
given to the whole." — given to the law." — Let. 30. 
Crisis, xii. 

^^ Thorn in the flesh." '^ Thorn in the king's 

side." 
^' As the future ability of " The features of the in- 
a giant over a dwarf is de- fant are a proof of the de- 
lineated in his features while scent." — Let. 58. 
an infant." — Crisis, xi. 
^ " But from such opposi- " Hardly serious at first, 
tion, the French revolu- he is now an enthusiast, 
tion, instead of suffering, The coldest bodies warm 
receives homage. The more with opposition, the hardest 
it is struck, the more sparks sparkle in collision." — Let. 
it will emit."— Rights of 35. 
Man, part i. 

" He pities the plumage, ^^ The feather which adorns 
but forgets the dying bird." the royal bird supports his 
— Do. flight. Strip him of his 

plumage, and you fix him 
to earth."— Let. 42. 
" The ripeness of the con- ^' When you are ripe, you 
tinent for independence." shall be plucked." — Let. 

66. 



122 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

" Had you studied true ^' But neither should I 
greatness of hearty the first think tlie most exalted fac- 
and fairest ornament of ulties of the human mind 
mankind.''' — Crisis, vii. a gift worthy of the Divin- 

ity, nor any assistance in 
[This shows a parallel the improvement of them a 
also in the estimation they subject of gratitude to my 
place upon the human fac- fellow-creatures, if I were 
ulties, which is worth more not satisfied that really to 
in argument than any par- inform the understanding, 
allel of figure or expres- corrects and enlarges the 
sion.] heart/' — Last sentence of 

Junius. 
Wounded herself to the " Stab you to the heart.'^ 



i) 



heart.'' 

" Unite in despising you." ^' United detestation.' 

'' We are not moved by " How far you are au- 

thegloomy sm^eof a worth- thorized to rely upon the 

less king." — Crisis, iv. sincerity of those smiles 

which a pious court lav- 
ishes without reluctance 
upon a libertine by pro- 
fession," etc. — Let. 15. 
"That which, to some " We owe it to the boun- 
persons, appeared modera- ty of Providence that the 
tion in you at first, was not completest depravity of the 
produced by any real virtue heart is sometimes strangely 
of your own, but by a con- united with a confusion of 
trast of passions, dividing the mind, which counter- 
and holding you in perpet- acts the most favorite prin- 
ual irresolution. One vice ciples, and makes the same 
w^ill frequently expel an- man treacherous w^ithout 
other, without the least art, and a hypocrite with- 
merit in the man, as powers out deceiving." — Let. 15. 
in contrary directions re- 
duce each other to rest." — ■ 
Crisis, V. 



STYLE. 123 

The last parallel above will bear a moment^s thought 
and study. Paine says: '^Without the least merit in 
the man.^' Junius says : ^' We owe it to the bounty 
of Providence." They were both deeply read in the 
history of the human heart. The following is of the 
same nature, showing the same mental philosophy : 

Paine. Junius. 

" Men whose political " In public affairs there 
principles are founded on is the least chance of a 
avarice are beyond the perfect concurrence of sen- 
reach of reason, and the timent or inclination. If 
only cure of toryism of individuals have no vir- 
this cast is to tax it. A tues, their vices may be of 
substantial good drawn use to us. I care not with 
from a real evil, is of the what principle the new- 
same benefit to society as born patriot is animated 
if drawn from a virtue; if the measures he sup- 
and when men have not ports are beneficial to the 
public spirit to render community. The nation 
themselves serviceable, it is interested in his con- 
ought to be the study of duct, the motives are his 
government to draw the own.'^ — Let. 58. 
best possible use from " I am not so unjust as 
their vices. When the to reason from one crime 
governing passion of any to another ; though I 
man or set of men is once think that, of all vices, 
known, the method of avarice is most apt to 
managing them is easy; taint and corrupt the 
for even raisers, whom no heart." — Let. 27. 
public virtue can impress, 
would become generous 
could a heavy tax be laid 
upon covetousness." 

" Charity with them be- ^^ His charity has im- 
gins and ends at home." — proved upon the proverb^ 



124 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

Exam, of Prophecies^ Ap- and ended where it be- 
pendix. gan/^ — Let. 27. 

^^ Gut a verse." ^' Gut a resolution.^^ 



The above are a few of the similar figures which 
have come under my eye. The careful reader will, 
doubtless^ find many more, as I have given my 
attention to a multiplicity of subjects in this investi- 
gation, and many parallels would thus escape me. 
But I have given more than sixty, which ought to 
arrest the attention of any thinking man. Together 
with the above may be taken parallel phrases fre- 
quently used by both ; for example : '^ I affirm,'^ 
'' Excess of folly/' '' In point of," " Give the lie to," 
^' For several reasons," " Branded with," ^' It signi- 
fies not," " Circumstanced," ^^ For my own part," 
"In short," "Forever," "Common cause." 

I now pass on to those figures of speech which 
come in the form of argumentation, as antithesis and 
interrogation. ^ 

Antithesis is a species of word painting. It is to 
an argument what light and shade are to a painting. 
There can, therefore, be no argument without an- 
tithesis in some form. It may be defined, contrast- 
ing or placing in opposition opinions, sentiments, 
and ideas. The following are examples : 

Paine. Junius. 

"At home and abroad." "At home and abroad." 

" A government of ' our " If we see them obedi- 

own is our natural right ; ent to the laws, prosper- 



STYLE. 125 

and when a man seriously ous in their industry, 

reflects on the precarious- united at home and re- 

ness of human affairs, he spected abroad, we may 

will become convinced that reasonably presume that 

it is infinitely wiser and their affairs are conducted 

safer to form a constitu- by men of experience, 

tion of our own in a cool, abilities, and virtue. If, 

deliberate manner, while on the contrary, we see an 

we have it in our power, universal spirit of distrust 

than to trust such an in- and dissatisfaction, a rapid 

teresting event to time and decay of trade, dissensions 

chance. If loe omit it noiu, in all parts of the empire, 

some Massanello may here- a total loss of respect in 

after arise, who, laying the eyes of foreign powers, 

hold of popular disquie- we" may pronounce, with- 

tudes, may collect together out hesitation, that the 

the desperate and discon- government of that coun- 

tented, and, by assuming try is weak, distracted, 

to themselves the powers and corrupt/^ — Let. 1. 
of government, finally 
sweep away the liberties 
of the continent like a del- 

As would naturally be expected from what has al- 
ready been brought forward, in regard to the mental 
constitution of Mr. Paine, he abounds in this figure and 
style of argumentation; and it is the same witli Junius. 
Sentence after sentence, and period after period, are in 
antithesis. The expressions, " On the one hand, and on 
the other, ^.^ ^^ At home and abroad," ^^On this side, and 
on that," are the constant companions of both. Hence 
the method, also, in both, of bringing forward contra- 
dictions in the conduct and character of individuals, or 
in any proposition they are attacking. This is the lan- 
guage, also, of ridicule; the contradiction makes it ab- 



126 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

surd, the incongruity ridiculous. Antithesis is, there- 
fore, an argumentative figure of speech, in which con- 
trast or comparison is made to present an image of 
things or principles to the mind. It is to rhetoric what 
light and shade are to painting. In no other way can 
a writer paint a picture. Hence, when Mr. Paine says, 
'^ Were I disposed to paint a contrast," and when Jun- 
ius says, " Imagine what you might be, and then reflect 
upon what you are,'' they reveal the gift of that tre- 
mendous power they exhibit in their productions. 

It is from this constitutional arrangement of the mind 
which makes a man a good mathematician. For, if one 
will trace a mathematical process of reasoning, he will 
find it to be a system of comparisons or antitheses — and 
nothing else — having foundation primarily in equality. 
The idea of equality is the origin of mathematics. It 
was, therefore, a mathematician who wrote Junius. We 
can not go wrong in this conclusion, for we reason from 
first principles, and we would expect to find his style 
and language assuming mathematical preciseness, and 
only equaled by Mr. Paine in argumentation. 

From what has already been said, we would expect 
to find the frequent use of the dilemma, and the redudio 
ad absurdum — or, that the contrary of what is true 
leads to the absurd, 

Paine, Junius. 

" There is something ex- " The right of election b 
ceedingly ridiculous in the the very essence of the con- 
composition of monarchy; stitution. To violate that 
it first excludes a man from right, and, much more, to 



STYLE. 



127 



the means of information, 
yet empowers him to act in 
cases where the highest 
judgment is required. The 
state of a king shuts him 
from the Avorld, yet the 
business of a king requires 
him to know it thoroughly ; 
wherefore, the different 
parts, by unnaturally op- 
posing and destroying each 
other, prove the whole 
character to be absurd and 
ridiculous/' 



transfer it to any other set 
of men, is a step leading 
immediately to the dissolu- 
tion of all government. So 
far forth as it operates, it 
constitutes a House of 
Commons which does not 
represent the people. A 
House of Commons so 
formed would involve a 
contradiction, and the 
greatest confusion of ideas; 
but there are some minis- 
ters, my lord, whose views 
can only be answered by 
reconciling absurdities, and 
making the same proposi- 
tion which is false and ab- 
surd in argument true in 
fact."— Let. 11. 



I give the following dilemmas 



Paine, 

•^^ If you make the neces- 
sary demand at home, your 
party sinks ; if you make 
it not, you sink yourself; 
to ask it now is too late, 
and to ask it before was 
too soon ; and, unless it ar- 
rive quickly, will be of no 
use. In short, the part you 
have to act can not be act- 
ed." — Crisis, ii. 



Junius. 

" This confession reduces 
you to an unfortunate di- 
lemma. By renewing your 
solicitations, you must ei- 
ther mean to force your 
country into a war at a 
most unseasonable juncture, 
or, having no view or ex- 
pectation of that kind, that 
you look for nothing but a 
private compensation to 
yourself "—Let. 25. 



128 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

But these methods of arguQientation are only a species 
of antithesis^ and may all be reduced to the one funda- 
mental form of comparison. This may remind us of 
the fact that all improvement arises from comparison, 
whether in language, government, or personal exper- 
ience. 

I have one marked feature of argumentative figure 
to point out, and this is, interrogation. This is insinu- 
ation without direct attack, a sort of flank movement, 
when charges are made that can not be jjroven, or when 
too evident to need proof. This style is also not only 
common to both Mr. Paine and Junius, but so promi- 
nent that it attracts attention at once. 

It is frequently the case with Mr. Paine and Junius 
that '^ language fails,'' that is, it is poured forth in such 
torrents of abuse that the reader is made painfully aware 
of it, and to recapture the mind of the reader, they art- 
fully charge it to the impossibility of doing justice to 
so bad a subject. For example : 

Paine. Junius. 

"There are cases that "But this language is too 

can not be overdone by mild for the occasion. The 

language, and this is one. king is determined that our 

— Crisis, i. abilities shall not be lost to 

society." — Let. 48. 

"There is not in the "Our language has no 

compass of language a suf- terms of reproach, the mind 

ficiency of words to express has no idea of detestation, 

the baseness of your king, which has not already been 

his ministry, and his army, happily applied to you and 

They have refined upon exhausted. Ample justice 



STYLE. 129 

villainy till it wants a has been done, by abler 
name. To the fiercer vices pens than mine, to the sep- 
of former ages they have arate merits of your life 
added the dregs and scum- and character. Let it be 
mings of the most finished my humble office to collect 
rascality, and are so com- the scattered sweets till 
pletely sunk in serpentine their united virtue tortures 
deceit that there is not left the sense.^' — Let. 4L 
among them one generous " In what language shall 
enemy.'^ — Crisis, v. I address so black, so cow- 
" We sometimes experi- ardly a tyrant. Thou 
ence sensations to which worse than one of the 
language is not equal. The Brunswicks and all the 
conception is too bulky to Stuarts.^^ — Let. 56. 
be born alive, and in the "The king has been ad- 
torture of thinking we vised to make a public sur- 
stand dumb. Our feel- render, a solemn sacrifice in 
ings imprisoned by their the face of all Europe, not 
magnitude, find no way only of the interest of his 
out, and in the struggle of subjects, but of his own per- 
expression every finger tries sonal reputation, and of the 
to be a tongue. The ma- dignity of that crown which 
chinery of the body seems his predecessors have worn 
too little for the mind, and with honor. These are 
we look about us for help strong terms, sir, but they 
to show our thoughts by. are supported by fact and 
Such must be the sensation argument/^ — Let. 42. 
of America whenever Bri- 
tain teeming with corrup- 
tion shall propose to her to 
sacrifice her faith. '^ — Crisis, 
xii. 

In the last parallel above, it will be noticed, the 
strong terms were called forth by a sacrifice of national 
honor with Great Britain, and a prospect of it in the 
United States. I call attention to this in this place to 



130 JUNIU8 UNMASKED. 

save repetition of proofs, showing that proud spirit of 
personal honor so prominent in Paine and Junius, and 
from which they both say : national honor is governed 
by the same rules as personal honor. I now pass to 
notice the most prominent mental characteristics. 



MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS. 

If the reader will carry forward in his mind what I 
have already said on style and the object for which Mr. 
Paine and Junius wrote, it will greatly aid me in re- 
ducing the size of this book, I shall act on the prin- 
ciple of this suggestion, and while I give new matter 
upon new subjects, the reader will find the parallels 
greatly strengthened by what has already been said. 
The reader will also apply the facts already brought for- 
ward to the passages I shall hereafter present, so that, 
like a two-edged sword, it may be made to cut both 
ways. And first of avarice and the miser .- 

Paine. Junius. 

" Could I find a miser ^' Of all the vices avarice 
whose heart never felt the is most apt to taint and cor- 
emotion of a spark of prin- rupt the heart.'' — Let. 27. 
ciple, even that man, unin- ^^ As for the common sor- 
fluenced by every love but did vieios of avarice," etc. — 
the love of money, and ca- Let. 53. 
pable of no attaohment but " The miser himself sel- 
to his interest, would and dom lives to enjoy the fruits 
must, from the frugality of his extortion.^' — Let. 20, 
which governs him, con- note. 

tribute to the defense of the " I could never have a 
country, or he ceases to be doubt in law or reason that 
a miser and becomes an a man convicted of a high 
idiot. breach of trust and of a no- 

9 (131) 



132 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

" Every passion that acts torious corruption in the 
upon mankind has a pe- execution of a public office, 
culiar mode of operation, was and ought to be inca- 
Many of them are tempo- pable of sitting in the same 
rary and fluctuating; they parliament.'^ — Let. 20. 
admit of cessation and va- 
riety. But avarice is a 
fixed, uniform passion. It 
neither abates of its vigor 
nor changes its object.^^ — 
Crisis, X. 

I call attention to that pride of character and per- 
sonal honor, so conspicuous in both Paine and Junius : 

Paine. Junius. 

" A man who has no sense " Honor and honesty 
of honor, has no sense of must not be renounced, al- 
shame." — LettoCheetham. though a thousand modes,'' 

^^ Knowing my own heart, etc. — Let. 58. 
and feeling myself, as I now " Junius will never de- 
do, superior to all the skir- scend to dispute with such 
mish of party, the inveter- a writer as Modestus.'' — 
acy of interested, or mis- Let. 29. 
taken opponents, I answer " For my own part, my 
not to falsehood or abuse." lord, I am proud to affirm, 
— R. M., part ii. that if I had been weak 

'^ Fortified with that enough to form such a 
proud integrity, that dis- friendship, I would never 
dain to triumph or to yield, have been base enough to 
I will advocate the rights betray it.'' — Let. 9. 
of man." — Do. 

A thousand passages might be selected from both to 
show this ruling trait of character. The proud, im- 
posing spirit that would dare to undertake the business 
of a world for the good of mankind, and to tread on 
the pride of courtiers, and to tell the king, who ruled 



MENTAL GHABACTEBISTICS. 133 

over the greatest nation on earth, that nature had only 
intended him for a good-humored fool, is pre-eminently 
the leading trait in Junius and Paine. No one can 
mistake it; no one can fail in finding it; no one can 
help feeling the force of it. It has never been pro- 
duced in any other man. The world^s history has 
given us but the one example of it. We search in 
vain for another parallel. And if Mr. Paine did not 
write Junius, nature produced twins of the same men- 
tal type to do the same work for mankind, and then 
defeated all her arts and gave the lie to all her laws, by 
exhibiting the one and forever concealing the other. 
But surely nature can conceal nothing. Her method 
is to reveal, not to conceal. She writes the character 
of man on all he touches, and reveals it in the very 
language he would employ to conceal it. 

It was this proud spirit which gave Paine that con- 
tempt for monarchy which he so often expressed. ^^I 
have an aversion -to monarchy," he says, ^^ as being too 
debasing to the dignity of man." This is a language 
which courtiers could not understand, and they would 
consider it the vain babbling of a mad-man ; but it is 
the very basis of that government which he labored to 
establish in America and France. This is also the 
spirit of Junius when he says with such withering 
sarcasm : " It may be matter of curious speculation 
to consider, if an honest man were permitted to 
approach a king, in what terms he would address him- 
self to his sovereign." And after having gained the ear 
of the king, when he says: "Let it be imagined, no 
matter how improbable, that he has spirit enough t<;> 
bid him speak freely and understanding enough to 



134 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

listen to him with attention. Unacquainted with the 
vain impertinence of forms, he would deliver his senti- 
ments with dignity and firmness." ^ Here Junius, also, 
fortified with that proud integrity of character which he 
held in common with all who would not be enslaved, 
and which he possessed as the birthright of man, was 
free to place the dignity of an honest man in antithesis 
to a weak understanding in a king only supported by 
the vain impertinence of forms. Paine was too proud to 
be vain ; his pride came up from nature ; it was the 
pride of human worth, and opposed to that vanity of 
art which always makep pretentions to more worth than 
nature has conferred. Nature gives us pride, art makes 
us vain. It was this pride, in opposition to vanity, 
which Junius expressed in his great battle against the 
usurpations of government, when he says : " Both 
liberty and property are precarious unless the possessors 
have sense and spirit enough to defend them. This is 
not the language of vanity. If I am a vain man my 
gratification lies within a narrow circle." That is, ^' to 
write for fame and be unknown." 

From this pride of character, so strong and peculiar, 
we may draw no weak conclusion in regard to the 
authorship of Junius, for the parallel is perfect, and 
the age in which he wrote gave us nothing like it in 
any one but Paine. This characteristic gives tone to 
the whole mind, and a shade of coloring to every faculty. 
It reflects itself upon the people, and draws therefrom the 
conclusion that they have more " sense and spirit " 
than they really possess. It gives a double coloring to 
hope, paints two bows instead of one, and reduces the 
time for the establishment of right. It thus produces 



MENTAL CHABACTEBISTICS. • 135 

more faith in the people than facts will sustain. For 
exaraple : j 

Paine] Junius. 

" The fraud, hypocrisy, ^^ I believe there is yet a 
and imposition of govern- spirit of resistance in this 
ments are now beginning country, which will not 
to be too well understood submit to be oppressed ; 
to promise them any longer but I am sure there is a 
career. The farce of mon- fund of good sense in this 
archy and aristocracy in country which can not be 
all countries, is following deceived.'^ — Let. 16. 
that of chivalry, and Mr. " Although the king 
Burke is dressing for the should continue to support 
funeral. ^^ his present system of gov- 

^^ The time is not very ernment, the period is not 
distant when England will very distant, at whicl)|^'0u 
laugh at itself for sending will have the means of 
abroad for a king." &c. redress in your own power ; 

" Within the space of a it may be nearer, perhaps, 
few years we have seen two than any of us expect, 
revolutions, those of Amer- " You are roused at last 
ica and France. . . . to a sense of your danger : 
From both these instances the remedy will soon be in 
it is evident that the great- your power." — Ded. 
est forces that can be 
brought into the field of 
revolutions, are reason and 
common interest. . 

We may hereafter hope to see revolutions or changes 
in government, produced by the same quiet operation, 
by which any measure determinable by reason and 
discussion, is accomplished." — R. of M. Part ii. 

"I do not believe that monarchy and aristocracy 
will continue seven years longer in any of the enlight- 
ened countries of Europe." — R. of M. Part ii. Pref. 



136 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

But Paine and Junius were botli mistaken. Reason 
will, perhaps, forever fail to produce a revolution with- 
out bloodshed. Reason only prepares for war, and 
when time has slowly accomjjlished the work of reason 
in any reform, it terminates that work in convulsions 
of war. The political corruptions, also, which Junius 
was so hopeful would soon be resisted by the English 
people, still exist, and the reforms he advocated, al- 
though partly accomplished, fail to produce any better 
result. The reason is, the people never resist tyranny 
till scourged into it, from self-interest; and, besides, 
they must worship a tyrant of some political form, 
bending the knee to king or party, and baring the back 
to the lash. A leader the people must have, under 
wh^c banner they can rally, and which they consider 
it treason to desert, and whether they vote for a president 
or bow to a king, is all the same. The political prayer 
of royalty or republicanism, if not in the same words, 
expresses the same fact. The one is, ^' Oh, Lord ! to the 
king I bow, thou knowest he can do no wrong.'^ The 
other is, ^' Oh, Lor(i ! to the party I bow, thou knowest 
I never scratched a ticket.^' 

Although Paine and Junius were thoroughly read in 
the history of the human heart, they failed to place 
a proper estimate on the character of mankind. They 
failed because they reasoned from their own pride of 
character, their own feelings, hopes, and desires, and 
these far exceeded the mass of mankind. 

They were both too proud to flatter. 

Paine, Junius. 

" As it is not ray cus- " I am not conversant in 



MENTAL CIIABACTEBISTIG8. 137 

torn to flatter but to serve the language of panegyric, 
mankind, I will speak free- These praises are extorted 
ly." — Crisis, xi. from me; but they will 

^^ The world knows I am wear well, for they have 
not a flatterer.'' — R. M., been dearly earned." — Let. 
part ii. Preface. 53. 

The above characteristic is quite peculiar. I do not 
remember of ever seeing the like of it in any other 
writer, and as there is a perfect parallel here, the fact 
that it stands almost alone gives it great weight. 

They were both enthusiasts, as the following paral- 
lel on moderation will show : 

Paine. Junius. 

"Though I would care- '^The lukewarm advo- 
fully avoid giving unneces- cate avails himself of any 
sary offense, yet I am in- pretense to relapse into that 
dined to believe that all indolent indifference about 
those who espouse the doc- every tiling that ought to 
trine of reconciliation may interest an Englishman, so 
be included within the fol- unjustly dignilied with the 
lowing descriptions : Inter- title of moderations^ — Let. 
ested men, who are not to 58. 

be trusted ; weak men who "I have been silent 
can not see; prejudiced men hitherto, though not from 
who will not see ; and a cer- that shameful indifference 
tain sort of moderate men, about the interests of so- 
who think better of the ciety which too many of us 
European world than it de- possess and call modera- 
serves; and this last class, tion.^^ — Let. 44. 
by an ill-judged delibera- 
tion, will be the cause of 
more calamities to this con- 
tinent than all the other 
three." — Common Sense. 



138 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

Paine and Junius both had the same opinion of mod- 
erate men. 

They both^ also, had secretiveness large. That Jun- 
ius never revealed himself to the world, and that he 
baffled all the king's spies, is evidence enough on his 
side. I will now present a few evidences in regard to 
Mr. Paine. First, in regard to his wife. No one 
knows why they parted, and, when interrogated, he 
would make the evasive answer, " I had a cause.'' But, 
if pressed, he would bluntly respond, '^ It was a private 
affair, and nobody's business." He also sent her money 
without letting her know the source of it. Secondly : 
His Common Sense was kept a secret from Dr. Franklin 
till published, and this when the doctor had placed the 
materials in his hands toward completing a history of 
colonial affairs. He says: "I expected to surprise him 
with a production on that subject much earlier than he 
thought of, and, without informing him what I was 
doing, got it ready for the press as fast as I conveni- 
ently could, and sent him the first pamphlet that was 
printed off'." Thirdly: He projected a plan of going to 
England in disguise, and getting out a pamphlet in se- 
cret, to rouse the English people. See what he says 
about it on page 66 of this book. Fourthly: "The Ad- 
dress and Declaration " of the gentlemen who met at 
the Thatched House tavern in 1791, in England, was 
written by Mr. Paine, although he was not known, and 
took no part in the meeting. He only revealed himself 
as the author of it after Home Tooke, the supposed au- 
thor, had stated that Mr. Paine was the author. But 
this is what he says about it : " The gentleman who 



MENTAL CHARACTERmTICS. 139 

signed the address and declaration as chairman of the 
meeting, Mr. Home Tooke, being generally supposed to 
be the person who drew it up, and having spoken much 
in commendation of it, has been jocularly accused of 
praising his own work. To free him from this embar- 
rassment, and to save him the repeated trouble of men- 
tioning the author, as he has not failed to do, I make 
no hesitation in saying, I drew up the publication in 
question,^' etc. — Rights of Man, note. 

This is sufficient to show a trait of character which 
made Junius, as a secret, a success. Without this strong 
ruling passion there could have been no Junius to spring- 
like a tiger upon king and court. But, if it can be 
shown in any mental characteristic that Mr. Paine is 
incompatible with that character which is stamped upon 
Junius and made him a success, I will surrender the ar- 
gument. 

Mr. Paine says, as Home Tooke had not failed to de- 
clare him the author, he then acknowledged it as his 
own. Had Mr. Tooke been silent, you may well be as- 
sured Mr. Paine would never have divulged it to friend 
or foe of either. Since Mr. Paine above has used the 
expression, "Jocularly accused of praising his own 
work," the reader will not fail to remember the same 
characteristic in Junius, when he says of Philo Junius, 
and who was also the real Junius himself, that "the 
subordinate character was never guilty of the indecorum 
of praising his principal." This again reminds us of 
Mr. Paine, when speaking of that passage in Numbers : 
"Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the 
men which were on the face of the earth." Paine 
bluntly responds : " If Moses said this of himself, in- 



140 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

stead of being the meekest of men, he was one of the 
most vain and arrogant of coxcombs." 

I now call attention to the fact that Mr. Paine and 
Junius, when attacking the private character of men, 
both seem to delight, when the fact would fit, in 
charging bastardy: 

Paine. Junius. 

^' A French bastard, land- Speaking of the Duke of 
ing with an armed banditti, Grafton's ancestors : 
and establishing himself ^^ Those of your grace, 
king of England against for instance, left no distress- 
the consent of the natives, ingexamplesof virtue, even 
is, in plain terms, a very to their %^7^ma^!e posterity ; 
paltry rascally original. It and you may look back 
certainly hath no divinity with pleasure to an illus- 
in it," — Common Sense. trious pedigree, in which 

heraldry has not left a sin- 
gle good quality upon re- 
cord to insult or upbraid 
you. You have better 
proofs of your descent, my 
lord, than the register of a 
marriage," etc. — Let. 12. 

In their appeals to posterity they were both equal 
and frequent. Mr. Paine says, in closing his first 
Crisis: ^' By perseverance and fortitude we have the 
prospect of a glorious issue ; by cowardice and sub- 
mission the sad choice of a variety of evils, a ravaged 
country, a depopulated city, habitations without safety, 
and slavery without hope; our homes turned into bar- 
racks and bawdy-houses for Hessians and a future race 



MENTAL CI-IARACTERISTIO.S. 141 

to provide for, whose fathers we shall doubt of. Ijook 
on this picture and weep over it ! and if there yet re- 
mains one thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let 
him suffer it unlamented." Junius also says in strains 
as pathetic and patriotic : '^ We owe it to posterity not 
to suffer their dearest inheritance to be destroyed. But 
if it were possible for us to be insensible of these sa- 
cred claims, there is yet an obligation binding on our- 
selves, from which nothing can acquit us, a personal 
interest which we can not surrender. To alienate even 
our own rights would be a crime as much more enor- 
mous than suicide as a life of civil security and freedom 
is superior to a bare existence ; and if life be the bounty 
of Heaven, we scornfully reject the noblest part of the 
gift, if we consent to surrender that certain rule of liv- 
ing, without which the condition of human nature is 
not only miserable, but contemptible.^^ — Let. 20. 

In the study of the human heart, and in a knowl- 
edge of the secret workings of the mind they were 
both masters. And, had it not been that they over- 
applied the nobler virtues in the common people, they 
would never have gone wrong in their conclusions. 
They failed not in the knowledge, but in the applica- 
tion of the thing. They thought it existed where it 
did not. But this is the law, which they laid down as 
follows : 

Paine, Junius. 

" It is the faculty of the ^' By persuading others 
human mind to become we convince ourselves. The 
what it contemplates, and passions are engaged, and 
to act in unison with its create a maternal affection 
objects."— R. M., part i. in the mind which forces 



f 



142 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

US to love the cause for which we suffer/' . . 
^^ When once a man is determined to believe, the very 
absurdity of the doctrine confirms him in his faith." — 
Let. 35. 

The mental constitution of Mr. Paine made him 
practical. What he knew he considered of no use to 
himself unless he could apply it in some way. He finds 
the people oppressed by the usurpations of govern- 
ment, and he urges to rebellion. He finds in America, 
Britain had prohibited the importation of powder, and 
his knowledge of chemistry immediately supplies the 
national magazines. His mechanical thought was not 
satisfied until it had taken the form of an iron bridge. 
It was the same disposition in Junius which kept him 
forever talking of " experience," and the " evidence of 
facts." I give a single parallel out of hundreds : 

Paine. Junius. 

" In the progress of poli- ^* As you yourself are a 
tics, as in the common oc- singular instance of youth 
currences of life, we are not without spirit, the man 
only apt to forget the who defends you is a no 
ground we have traveled less remarkable example 
over, but frequently neg- of age without the benefit 
iect to gather up experience of experience.^^ — Let. 9. 
as we go." — Crisis, iii. 

I merely call attention to the above fact as a practi- 
cal feature of the mind common to both. In the same 
manner both make frequent mention of ^^reason^' and 
^^ common sense." Examples of this kind it is useless 
to give, for they look out from every page. 

I now pass to consider their doctrines and private 
opinions ; and first of politics : 



MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS. 143 

I have heretofore proven that they were not parti- 
sans in the strict sense of the term, yet they both had 
party proclivities: 

Paine. Junius. 

" There is a dignity in To the king : ^^ You are 
tne warm passions of a not, however, destitute of 
whig which is never to be support. You have all the 
found in the cold malice of a Jacobites, Non-jurors, Eo- 
tory; in the one nature is man Catholics, and Tories 
only heated, in the other of this country, and all 
poisoned. The instant the Scotland without excep- 
former has it in his power tion. . . . And truly, 
to punish, he feels a dispo- sir, if you had not lost the 
sition to forgive, but the Wkig interest of England, 
canine venom of the latter I should admire your dex- 
knows no relief but re- terity in turning the hearts 
venge. This general dis- of your enemies.'^ — Let. 
tinction will, I believe, 35. 

apply in all cases, and suits " When I hear the Un- 
as well the meridian of defined privileges of the 
England as America." — popular branch of the leg- 
Crisis, vi. islature exalted by tories 

and Jacobites, at the ex- 
pense of those strict rights 
which are known to the 
subject and limited by the 
laws, I can not but suspect that some mischievous 
scheme is in agitation to destroy both law and privi- 
lege, by opposing them to each other." — Let. 44. 

They both declare Law to be king: 

Paine. Junius. 

" But where, say some. To the king : ^' Nor can 
is the king of America? you ever succeed [against 
. ... So far as we Wilkes] unless he should 



144 



JUNIUS UNMASKED. 



approve of monarchy, in be imprudent enough to 
America the law is kingJ^ forfeit the protection of 
C. S. those laws to which you 

owe your crown^ — Let. 35. 

game laws of 



They both express themselves on the 
England as follows : 



Paine, 

" Had there been a house 
of farmers, there had been 
no game laws. . . . The 
French constitution says 
there shall be no game 
laws; that the farmer on 
v/hose lands wild game shall 
be found (for it is by the 
produce of those lands 
they are fed) shall have a 
right to what he can take. 
In England, game is made 
the property of those at 
whose expense it is fed." — 
E. of M. 



Jujiius. 

"As to the game laws, 
he [Junius] never scrupled 
to declare his opinion that 
they are a species of the 
forest laws: that they are 
oppressive to the subject; 
and that the spirit of them 
is incompatible with legal 
liberty: that the penalties 
imposed by these laws bear 
no proportion to the nature 
of the ofPense : that in par- 
ticular, the late acts to pre- 
vent dog-stealing or killing 
game between sun and sun, 
are distinguished by their 
absurdity, extravagance, 
and pernicious tendency.'^ 
—Let. 63. 



Both express themselves the same on laivs in general : 

Paine, Junius, 

" The government of a free " The submission of a free 

country, properly speaking, people to the executive au- 

v.is not in the persons, hut thority of government is no 

in the laivs.'^ — R. of M. more than a compliance with 

the laws which they them- 
selves have enacted.'' — L. 1. 



iENTAL CIIABACTEHISTICS. 145 

I would have the reader mark the fact that the 
above sentiment of Junius is the first he proclaims in 
his book. This, it will readily be seen, contains in 
itself the whole system of politics which Junius and 
Paine labored to establish. From this sentiment arose 
the frequent expressions of Junius^ *' Original rights;^' 
^^ First rights ; ^^ '' Sacred original rights of the people ; ^' 
^' The meanest mechanic is equal to the noblest peer;^' 
and which Paine embodied in the expression, '^ Man- 
kind are originally equal in the order of creation. '^ 
Herein also we find the foundation for that method of 
both in tracing the rights of man back to their origin, 
and the easy manner in distinguishing original right 
from usurpation. A parallel here will make this plain : 

Paine. Junius. 

" The example shows to " To establish a claim of 
the artificial world that man privilege in either house, 
must go back to nature for and to distinguish original 
information." — R. M., part right from usurpation, it 
ii. " Can we possibly sup- must appear that it is indis- 
pose that if government pensably necessary for the 
had originated in a right performance of the duty, 
principle and had not an in- and also that it has been 
terest in pursuing a wrong uniformly allowed. From 
one, that the world could the first part of this de- 
have been in the wretched scription it follows, clearly, 
and quarrelsome condition that whatever privilege does 

we have seen it? of right belong to the pres- 

A\^hat was at first plunder, ent House of Commons, did 
assumed the softer name of equally belong to the first 
revenue, and the power assembly of their prede- 
originally usurped they af- cessors, was so completely 
fected to inherit." — R. M., vested in them, and might 
part ii., chap. ii. See, also, have been exercised in the 



146 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

a fine specimen of this kind same extent. From the 
of argumentation in the second we must infer that 
first chapter of Common privileges which, for sev- 
Sense. eral centuries, were not 

only never allowed, but 
never even claimed by the 
House of Commons, must 
be founded upon usurpa- 
tion/'— Let. 44. 

In regard to America, I have shown their views to 
run parallel. Mr. Paine says in Crisis vii : " The 
ministry and minority have both been wrong." And 
Junius says in his first Letter : " But unfortunately for 
his country, Mr. Grenville was at any rate to be dis- 
tressed because he was minister, and Mr. Pitt and Lord 
Camden were to be the patrons of America because they 
were in opposition." The minority here meant no more 
than the ruin of a minister and split the nation, with- 
out doing the colonies alny good. Mr. Paine also says 
of Lord Chatham on this same point in Crisis viii : 
'^ An opinion hangs about the gentlemen of the minor- 
ity, that America would relish measures under their 
administration which she would not from the present 
cabinet. On this rock Lord Chatham would have split 
had he gained the helm." 

I bring forward this parallel to show three things, 
the same political opinions, the same views of the par- 
ties in England, and the same figures of speech, all 
thrown into the same subject-matter. This, together 
with the same resemblance in style, surely point to the 
same author. 



MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS. I47 

This leads me on to speak of other private opinions. 
And first of lawyers, and especially Lord Mansfield : 

Paine. Junius. 

" It is difficult to know ^^ As a practical profes- 
when a lawyer is to be be- sion, the study of the law 
lieved.'^ — Let. to Erskine, requires but 'a moderate 
Int. portion of abilities. The 

Of those who preside at learning of a pleader is 
St. James^ ^^ They know usually upon a level with 
no other influence than cor- his integrity. The indis- 
ruption, and reckon all their criminate defense of right 
probabilities from prece- and wrong contracts the 
dent. A new^ case is to understanding, while it cor- 
them a new world, and rupts the heart. Subtlety 
while they are seeking for is soon mistaken for wis- 
a parallel they get lost, dom, and impunity for vir- 
The talents of Lord Mans- tue. If there be any in- 
field can be estimated at stances upon record (as 
best no higher than those some there are undoubtedly 
of a sophist. He under- of genius and morality 
stands the subtleties but united in a lawyer), they 
not the elegance of nature, are distinguished by their 
and by continually viewing singularity, and operate as 
mankind througk the cold exceptions.'^ — Let. 67. 
medium of the law, never '^ Considering the situa- 
thinks of penetrating into tion and abilities of Lord 
the warmer regions of the Mansfield, I do not scruple 
mind." — Crisis, vii. to affirm, with the most 

solemn appeal to God for 
my sincerity, that in my 
judgment he is the very 
worst and most dangerous 
~ man in the kingdom.'^ — 
Let. Q>^. 

The above parallel in regard to Lord Mansfield is 
most remarkable. Let us consider it. Whether the 
10 



148 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

statements be true or not, is immaterial. Mr. Paine 
said he knew no other influence than corruption ; that 
his talents were those of a sophist^ and that he under- 
stood the subtleties of nature, not its elegance. Refer- 
ence is here had to the Athenian sophists, whose art it 
was "to make the worse appear the better reason." 
This art made them talented in a certain direction, and 
in the employment of it they became renowned and 
rich. Paine affirms that the law had corrupted him. 
Junius says the practice of the law makes a bad man, 
and that Mansfield was, considering the conditions, the 
worst man in the kingdom. This is an opinion so sin- 
gular and prominent, so rare among men, and expressed 
so boldly and unqualifiedly, by both Paine and Junius, 
that it furnishes a parallel which comes with positive 
and telling force. Perhaps Paine and Junius were the 
only two writers at the time who held this opinion. 
And that they should express it in the same manner, 
with all the fine shades and attending peculiarities the 
same, and be at the same time two persons, is a phe- 
nomenon which nature never exhibited but once, and 
never will again among mankind. To remove the 
weight of this evidence, something positive must be 
brought forward to rebut it. 

It will be noticed above that Mr. Paine spoke of 
"precedent" being the basis of reckoning all their 
probabilities, and that a new case was a new world. 
Here we find anotlier parallel in opinion : 

Paine. Junius, 

" Government by prece- " Precedents, in opposi- 
dent, without any regard to tion to principle, have lit- 



MENTAL CHABAOTERISTICS. 149 

the principle of the prece- tie weight with Junius^ but 
dent, is one of the vilest he thought it necessary to 
systems that can be set up. meet the ministry on their 
In nrumerous instances, the own ground." — Let. 16, 
precedent ought to operate note. 

as a warning, and not as *^ I am no friend to the 
an example, and requires to doctrine of precedents, ex- 
be shunned instead of imi- elusive of right, though 
tated ; but, instead of this, lawyers often tell us that 
precedents are taken in the whatever has been done 
lump, and put at once for once may lawfully be done 
constitution and for law.^^ again." — Preface. 
R. of M., part ii., chap. iv. 

Many examples could be given of the above like- 
ness, but these are sufficient. 

I submit the following in regard to Lord North : 

Paine. Junius. 

"As for Lord North, it "The management of the 
is his happiness to have in king's affairs in the House 
him more philosophy than of Commons can not be 
sentiment, for he bears flog- more disgraced than it has 
ging like a top, and sleeps been. A leading minister 
the better for it. His pun- repeatedly called down for 
ishment becomes his sup- absolute ignorance, ridic- 
port, for while he suffers ulous motions ridiculously 
the lash for his sins, he withdrawn, deliberate plans 
keeps himself up by twirl- disconcerted, a week's prep- 
ing about. In politics, he aration of graceful oratory 
is a good arithmetician, and lost in a moment, give us 
in every thing else nothing some though not adequate 
at alV^ — Crisis, vii. ideas of Lord North's par- 

liamentary abilities and in- 
fluence. Yet, before he 
had the misfortune of be- 
ing Chancellor of the Ex- 



150 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

chequer, he was neither an object of derision to his 
enemies, nor of melancholy pity to his friends. I hope 
he [Grafton] will not rely on the fertility of Lord 
North^s genius for finance ; his lordship is yet to give us 
the first proof of his ahilities.^' — Let. 1. 

Mr. Paine, no doubt, had in his mind this passage 
of Junius when he described him as a twirling top, a 
good arithmetician in politics, but in every thing else 
nothing at all. 

In speaking of the misconduct of England, they both 
make it commence at the termination of the Seven Years' 
War, and speak of the time reckoned from the beginning 
of the year 1763. I will notice Junius first, so as to 
present this parallel in chronological order. He says 
in his first Letter, written Jan. 21, 1769 : " Outraged 
and oppressed as we are, this nation will not bear, after 
a six years^ peace, to see new millions," etc. On Feb- 
ruary 14, 1770, he says : "At the end of seven years we 
are loaded with a debt," etc. This is the method, in 
regard to time Junius always employs when speaking 
of the distress and calamities of England. 

Let us now pass over to America, and we find, near 
the close of 1778, Mr. Paine uses the same method and 
language, when addressing the people of England in 
Crisis, vii : '^ A period of sixteen years of misconduct 
and misfortune is certainly long enough for any one 
nation to suffer under." He elsewhere uses the same 
language in the same way, which shows a mental habit 
peculiar to both. 

The same opinion of court and courtier has elsewhere 



MENTAL CHARACTERIiSTIGS. 151 

been shown, but a definite parallel or two may not be 
out of place : 

Paine. Junius. 

*^ For the caterpillar prin- " Where birth and fortune 
ciples of all courts and cour- are united, we expect the 
tiers are alike/^ — Rights of noble pride and indepen- 
Man, part i. dence of a man of spirit, 

not the servile, humiliating 
complaisance of a courtier/' 
Let. 1. 

They held the same opinion of oaths : 

Paine. Junius. 

"If a government re- "He [the minister] is 
quires the support of oaths, the tenant of the day, and 
it is a sign that it is has no interest in the in- 
not worth supporting, and heritance. The sovereign 
ought not to be supported/' himself is bound by other 
R. of M., part ii, chap. iv. obligations, and ought to 

look forward to a superior, 
a permanent interest. His 
paternal tenderness should remind him how many hos- 
tages he has given to society. The ties of nature come 
powerfully in aid of oaths and protestations.'' — Let. 38. 

They place personal interest above strict moral rig Jit ^ 
as a means of improvement: 

Paine. Junius. 

" As to mere theoretical " It will be said, that I 
reformation, I have never deny at one moment what 
preached it up. The most I would allow at another, 
effectual process is that of To this I answer, gen- 
improving the condition of erally, that human affairs 
man by means of his inter- are in no instance governed 



152 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

est^ and it is on this by strict, positive right, 
ground that I take my . . . My premises, I 
stand." — R. of M., part ii, know, will be denied in ar- 
chap. V. gument, but every man's 

conscience tells him they are 
true. It remains then to 
be considered whether it be for the interest of the 
people/^ etc. — Let. 44. 

The reader will here see a mental characteristic the 
same, and a philosophy growing therefrom which is 
boldly affirmed by both. 

That we gather strength by antagonism, and in this 
way the vicious are often brought into notice and be- 
come successful, is a prominent fact noticed by both . 

Paine. Junius. 

" Those whose sentiments " Mr. Wilkes, if not 
are injudicious or unfriend- persecuted, will soon be 
ly, v/ill cease of themselves, forgotten. — Let. 11. See 
unless too much pains is also Let. 1 and 35. 
bestowed upon their con- 
version." — C. S., Int. 

I have heretofore given examples of the above to 
prove another fact. 

I now call attention to the passion of suspicion : 

Paine. Junius. 

" I am not of a disposi- " The situation of this 
tion inclined to suspicion, country is alarming enough 
It is, in its nature, a mean to rouse the attention of 
and cowardly passion, and, every man who pretends to 
upon the whole, even ad- a concern for the public 
mitting error into the case, welfare. Appearances jus- 
it is better ; I am sure it is tify suspicion ; and when 



MENTAL CHARACTEBISTIOS. 153 

more generous to be wrong the safety of a nation is at 
on the side of confidence, stake, suspicion is a just 
than on the side of sus- ground of inquiry/^ — Let. 
picion. But, I know as a 1. 
fact, that the English gov- 
ernment. . . . Their anti- 
revolutionary doctrines 
invite suspicion even 
against one's will, and in 
spite of one's charity to be- 
lieve well of them." — Let. 
to Samuel Adams. 

The above is strong language in regard to suspicion. 
Paine thinks it mean and cowardly if not well founded, 
and Junius thinks it is justifiable when the safety of a 
nation is at stake. This is an uncommon sentiment, 
and, if Mr. Paine was Junius, he is found repeating 
himself after an interval of thirty-four years. 

In regard to thinking for one's self, Junius says of 
Benson, in withering rebuke to Lord Mansfield, who 
had committed him for contempt: "He had the im])u- 
dence to pi-etend to think for himself J' Paine exclaims : 
" Why is man afraid to think ? '^ 

There is a fact now in regard to the English army 
which is of great weight in my argument relative to a 
change of opinion. Junius always spoke highly of the 
army, while he sometimes censured individual officers. 
Speaking of the regiments of the guards, he says: " Far 
be it from me to insinuate the most distant reflection 
upon the army. On the contrary, I honor and esteem 
the profession, and if these gentlemen were better sol- 
diers I am sure they would be better subjects." Mr. 



154 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

Paine^ just nine years afterward, when in America, and 
fighting against the English army, says of the English 
people: "They are made to believe that their generals 
and armies differ from those of other nations, and have 
nothing of rudeness or barbarity in them. They sup- 
pose them what they wish them to be ; they feel a dis- 
grace in thinking otherwise. There was a tiuie when 
I felt the same prejudices, and reasoned from the same 
errors; but experience — sad and painful experience — 
has taus^ht me better. What the conduct of former ar- 
mies was I know not, but what the conduct of the pres- 
ent is I well know — it is low, cruel, indolent, and prof- 
ligate.'^ — Crisis, vii. This is a species of dovetailing 
the life and opinions of Junius into those of Mr. Paine. 
But the reader will see there is no effort on my part. 
All I ask is for truth to take its course. It would be 
beneath the dignity of a scientific criticism to stoop to 
artifice. 

I wish now to bring forward a complex parallel, to 
show that pride of character which would not stoop to 
the meanness of party politics, and to show, also, their 
opinion of bribery at elections, and the origin of "mili- 
tary governments '^ in England. 

. '^It is difficult,^' says Mr. Paine, "to account for the 
origin of charter and corporation towns, unless we sup- 
pose them to have arisen out of, or having been con- 
nected with, some species of garrison service. The 
times in which they began justify this idea. The gen- 
erality of these towns have been garrisons, and the cor- 
porations were charged with the care of the gates of the 
town when no military garrison was present. Th^ir 



MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS. 155 

refusing or granting admission to strangers, which has 
produced the custom of giving, selling, and buying free- 
dom, has more of the nature of garrison authority than 
civil government/^ — Rights of Man, part ii, chap. 5, 
note. 

I am now prepared to give the parallels : 

Paine. Junius, 

"As one of the houses of " But it seems the sale 
the English Parliament is of a civil employment was 
in a great measure made up not sufficient, and military 
by elections from these cor- governments, which were 
porations, and as it is un- intended for the support of 
natural that a pure stream worn-out veterans, must be 
would flow from a foul thrown into the scale to de- 
fountain, its vices are but fray the extensive bribery 
a continuation of the vices of a contested election. ^^ — 
of its origin. A man of Let. 34. 
moral honor and good po- " But is there no honor-' 
litical principles can not able way to serve the pub- 
submit to the mean drudg- lie without engaging in 
eri/ and disgraceful arts by personal quarrels with in- 
which such elections are significant individuals, or 
carried." submitting to the drudgery 

of canvassing votes for an 
election." — Let. 53. 

Says Mr. Paine : "7 love method^ This, every action 
proved. His business transactions, his political plans, 
the productions of his pen, were all in design and exe- 
cution methodical. In dedicating his life to the good 
of mankind, he studied method in the use of his great 
mental j)Owers. He never set about doing any thing 
without a plan and specifications. He carried in the 
brain the ideal of the work he was to give material 



156 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

shape and substance. His plans were always well- 
digested and often long in maturing. He, for exam- 
ple, anticipated the revolution, and proceeded to fill the 
public arsenals with powder. He then brought out 
Common Sense, when public opinion was decidedly 
against a declaration of independence, to educate that 
public sentiment in favor of it. This produced the 
desired effect, and when war was fairly begun upon a 
proper basis and plan, he struck the enemy at the 
proper time and place with an occasional Crisis. The 
first Crisis he wrote, for example, won a battle for the 
Union. After the war was over, he went to England 
and brought out his Eights of Man, laboring in the 
same lines and advocating the very principles of Junius. 
There is not a political principle expressed in Junius 
which was not again reproduced in Eights of Man. 
But method is stamped upon every production of his 
pen. Take, for example. Common Sense. The design 
was to bring public sentiment up to a declaration of 
independence. Now if we examine the method of the 
work, we will find the steps like a geometrical demon- 
stration, from first principles to conclusion. In Com- 
mon Sense he first convinces the reason, then inflames 
the passions, and lastly destroys dissension by a stirring, 
manly, patriotic appeal. The work proper is divided 
into four parts. 

I. Of the origin and design of government. Here 
the first principles are laid down, and are such as to 
convince the mind of every man capable of thinking. 
He then shows that the English constitution is not 
founded upon such principles; and that a people seek- 
ing political happiness while clinging to such a rotten 



MENTAL CHAMACTEBISTICS. 157 

government;, is like a man seeking connubial happiness 
while he is attached to a prostitute. 

II. Of monarchy and hereditary succession. Here 
he brings out his great political axiom, the equality of 
man in the order of creation, and then ridicules the pre- 
tentions of kings, and demolishes the whole fabric of 
" sacred titles ^^ by an appeal to sacred and profane his- 
tory, to the rights of man, to his reason, to his affec- 
tions, and to posterity. He has now prepared the mind 
of the American reader for the reception of truth, and 
he brings forward — 

III. Thoughts on the present state of the American 
affairs. 

He begins by saying : " In the following pages I offer 
nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments, and 
common sense.'' It is now he warms with the subject, 
and having before prepared the mind with exalted 
views of government and with the axioms upon which 
all just governments are founded; having before shown 
that all legislative powers are derived from the people, 
and founded in the consent of the governed; having, iu 
short, announced his bill of rights, he now comes for- 
ward with an indictment against England. This is full 
and complete, and by the time the reader has done with 
it he is then prepared for his final argument, which is — 

IV. The ability of America to acquire and maintain 
her independence. 

He afterward added an appendix, in which he re- 
counts the principal causes which impel the colonies to 
a separation. 

The reader will remark the method of the whole piece. 
He takes hold of the mind by strategy at first, and then 



158 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

places before it principles, facts, causes, and consequences, 
till he has made it entirely his own. 

If now the reader will return to the first Letter of 
Junius, he will find an admirable example of the same 
method. As to method, the two pieces are every way 
identical. Did a person not study this Letter of Ju- 
nius, he would perhaps fail to get, at first, the exact 
likeness which Mr. Paine has so completely reproduced 
in Common Sense, as an artistic performance. 

Junius' Letter to the king is also an example of the 
same method. There is, first, the bill of rights, and 
then the indictment. We find here the same strategy, 
which takes possession of the mind of the people, the 
same method to place the w^riter above and beyond 
selfish motives, the same foundation of principles, the 
same superstructure of argument, and the same method 
of bringing the reader to the conclusions. Herein we 
find policy. 

The policy of Mr. Paine made him extremely cau- 
tious, and he w^eighed well the consequences of speak- 
ing to the public, studying especially the proper time. 
This w^as the habit of Junius also. I will now give a 
few examples: When the civil laW'S of England had 
been trampled on by the military, in the case of General 
Gansel, Junius delayed speaking about it. He says: 
*'Had I taken it up at an earlier period, I should have 
been accused of an uncandid, malignant precipitation, 
as if I watched for an unfair advantage against the 
ministry, and w^ould not allow them a reasonable time 
to do their duty. They now stand without excuse." — 
Let. 30. He then proceeds to strike the ministry "hip 



MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS. 159 

and tliigli/^ In Letter 44 he also mentions the fact of 
having been silent^ not from a ^'shameful indifference/' 
bat because he had determined to " not deliver a hasty- 
opinion on a matter of so much delicacy and impor- 
tance." 

The same constitutional caution is exhibited in Mr. 
Paine. Upon national honor^ in Crisis xii, dated May, 
1782, he says: "In March, 1780, I published part of 
the Crisis, JSFo. viii, in the newspapers, but did not 
conclude it in the following papers, and the remainder 
has lain by me till the present day. There appeared 
about that time some disposition in the British cabinet 
to cease the further prosecntion of the war, and as I had 
formed my opinion that whenever such a design should 
take place, it w^ould be accompanied by a dishonorable 
proposition to America respecting France, I had sup- 
pressed the remainder of that number, not to expose the 
baseness of any such proposition. '^ He now incorpo- 
rates it in this number, and then follows with one of 
the noblest productions on national honor which it has 
been the fortune of man to write. 

I now give an opinion on the principles of the Eng- 
lish constitution : 

Paine. Junius. 

" A government on the " There can not be a doc- 
principles on which consti- trine more fatal to the lib- 
tiitional governments aris- erty and property we are 
ing out of society are es- contending for, than that 
tablished, can not have the which confounds the idea 
right of altering itself. If of a supreme and an arbi- 
it had, it would be arbi- trary legislature If 



160 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

trary. It might make it- the majority can disfran- 
self what it pleased; and chise ten boroughs, why not 
whenever such a right is twenty — why not the whole 
set up, it shows that there kingdom ? Why should not 
is no constitution. The act they make their own seats 
by which i\iQ English par- in parliament for life? 
liament empowered itself to When the septennial act 
sit for seven years, shows passed^ the legislature did 
there is no constitution in what, apparently and pal- 
England. It might, by the pably, they had no power 
same self-authority, have to do.'^ — Let. QS. 
sat any greater number of 
years, or for life.^' — K. of 
M., part i. 

Although the above doctrine that the people, not the 
legislature, are supreme, is not new, yet it was rarely 
asserted in the time of Paine, and renders the above 
parallel strong and peculiar. Even the same language 
is used in making the same application to the septen- 
nial act, which might as well have empowered the 
members of parliament to sit /or life. 

Here is a parallel on the opinion of the Jobbing 
spirit of courtiers : 

Paine. Junius. 

" Every nation that does To Draper : " It would 
not govern itself, is gov- have been more decent in 
erned as a Job. England you to have called this dis- 
has been the prey of Jobs honorable transaction by its 
ever since the revolution." true name, ajob^ to accom- 
R. of M., part ii, chap, v., modate two persons by par- 
note, ticular interest and manage- 
ment at the castle.^' — 
Let. 7. 



MJSNTAL OHABA OTERISTIC^. 161 

Both Paine and Junius frequently give vent to their 
detestation of gambling and gamblers. A single case 
in point is sufficient : 

Paine. Junius. 

"Those who knew the To Bedford: "His own 
savage obstinacy of the honor would have forbid- 
Idng, and the jobbing, ^am- den him from mixing his 
bling spirit of the court, private pleasures or conver- 
predicted the fate of the sation with jockeys, game- 
petition."— Crisis, iii. sters, blasphemers, gladia- 

tors, and buffoons.'^ — Let, 
23. See, also, Let. 14. 

They both have the same opinion of the theater; 
but as the proof of this is only circumstantial, I will 
not cumber these pages with it. We know that Paine 
was a Quaker upon this point; and Junius contempt- 
uously addresses Garrick, the actor, " Now mark me, 
vagabond! keep to your pantomimes,''^ etc. 

I now pass to consider their religious opinions. And, 
first, their views of God: 

Paine. Junius. 

"The Almighty hath im- " Grateful as I am to the 
planted in us these unex- good Being whose bounty 
tinguishable feelings for has imparted to me this 
good and wise purposes," reasoning intellect," etc — 
— C. S. Let. m. 

"The country was the " They acknowledged the 
gift of Heaven, and God hand of Providence in the 
alone is their Lord and descent of the crown upon 
sovereign."— Crisis, v. the head of a true Stuart." 

"From such men and [Spoken in. irony .1— Let. 
such masters may the gra- 49. 



162 JUNIUS UNMASKED. ' 

cious hand of Heaven pre- ^' If they should no 
serve America." longer appeal to the crea- 

^^The will of God hath ture of the constitution, but 
parted us, and the deed is to that high Being, who 
registered for eternity." — gave them the rights of 
Crisis, V. humanity, whose gifts it 

" Even the distance at were sacrilege to surrender, 
which tlie Almighty hath let me ask you sir," etc. — 
placed America and Eng- Let. 35. 
land, is a strong and natu- '^ I do not scruple to 
ral proof that the authority affirm, with the most sol- 
of the one over the other emn appeal to God for my 
was never the design of sincerity." — Let. 6S. 
Heaven. " The people also found 

"The reformation was it necessary to appeal to 
preceded by the discovery Heaven in their turn." — 
of America, as if the Al- Let. 9. 
mighty graciously meant to " And if life be the 
open a sanctuary to the bounty of Heaven, we 
persecuted in future years, scornfully reject the noblest 
when home should afford part of the gift," etc. — 
neither friendship nor safe- Let. 20. 
ty. " If when the opportu- 

'^ I am as confident, as I nity offers itself you neg- 
am that God governs the lect to do your duty to 
world, that America will yourselves and to posterity, 
never be happy till she gets to God and your country," 
clear of foreign dominion." etc. — Dedication. 
— Crisis, i. 

Of Providence they further say : 

Paine. Junius. 

" But Providence, who " If it should be the will 
best knows how to time her of Providence to afflict him 
misfortunes as well as her with a domestic misfor- 
immediate favors, chose this tune," etc. — Let. 23. 
to be the time, and who " The next is a most re- 



MENTAL QHARACTEBI8TIC8. 163 

flare dis2)iite it?'^ — Cri- markable instance of the 
sis, iii. goodness of Providence/' 

"To the interposition of — Let. 66. 
Providence and her bless- " If by the inamediate 
ings on our endeavors, and interposition of Providence 
not to British benevolence it were possible for us to 
are we indebted for the escape a crisis so full of ter- 
short chain that limits your ror and despair, posterity 
ravages." — Crisis, vi. will not believe the history 

'^To deny such a right of the present times.'' — 
would be a kind of athe- Let. 1. 
ism against nature, and the 
best answer to such an ob- 
jection will be: ^ The fool 
hath said in his heart there 
is no God!''' — Crisis, iii. 

Mr. Paine wrote the Age of Reason as an argument 
against atheism on the one hand and fanaticism on the 
other. This he says himself. 

I will now give the language of Mr. Paine on relig- 
ion, infidelity, atheism, fanaticism, and morality, and 
then subscribe the language of Junius. 

In his discourse to the Theophilanthropists of Paris, 
Mr. Paine says : " Religion has two principal enemies — 
fanaticism and infidelity, or that which is called atheism. 
The first requires to be combatted by reason or morality, 
the other by natural philosophy." In opposing atheism 
he makes intelligent force the God of the universe. 
This is his language : " God is the power, or first cause, 
nature is the law, and matter is the subject acted upon.'^ 
That is, there is a duality in the universe — -force and 
matter; and the action of force on matter produces the 
laws of nature, or, every phenomenon is produced by 
11 



164 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

the motion of matter. He founds lils argument against 
atheism on the motion of matter, and elaborates it in his 
clear and forcible style, and then says : " Where will in- 
fidelity — where will atheism find cause for this aston- 
ishing velocity of motion, never ceasing, never varying, 
and which is the preservation of the earth in its orbit? 
It is not by reasoning from an acorn to an oak, or from 
a;iy change in the state of matter on the surface of the 
earth, that this can be accounted for. Its cause is not to 
be found in matter, nor in any thing we call nature. The 
atheist who affects to reason, and the fanatic who rejects 
reason, plunge themselves alike into inextricable diffi- 
culties. The one perverts the sublime and enlightening 
study of natural philosophy into a deformity of absurdi- 
ties by not reasoning to the end, the other loses himself 
in the obscurity of metaphysical theories, and dishonors 
the Creator by treating the study of his works with 
contempt. The one is a half-rational of whom there is 
some hope, the other is a visionary to whom we must 
be charitable." 

I wish the reader to compare with the last sentence 
above the following extracts from Junius, to be found 
in Letters 44 and 35 : " The opinions of these men are 
too absurd to be easily renounced. Liberal minds are 
open to conviction, liberal doctrines are capable of im- 
provement. There are proselytes from atheism, hut none 
from superstition.''^ "When once a man is determined 
to believe, the very absurdity of the doctrine confirms 
him in his faith." 

But Junius, like Paine, was a religious man. In 
Letter 56, he says: "I know such a man; my lord, I 



MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS. 165 

know you both, and, with the blessing of God {for I, 
too, am religious), the people of England shall know 
you as well as I do/' 

As Mr. Paine has been misunderstood by the relig- 
ious world, and as so much has been said against his re- 
ligion that a prejudice deep and bitter now rests on the 
world against him, I will give a couple of extracts from 
his Rights of Man on this point. I confess that my 
own prejudices were so great against him (and I 
thought myself quite liberal), that they would not suffer 
me to read his works till quite recently. Such is the 
tyranny of religious instruction. The first extract is 
from the first part. In a note, he says: '^ There is a 
single idea, which, if it strikes rightly upon the mind, 
either in a legal or a religious sense, will prevent any 
man, or any body of men, or any government, from go- 
in o- wrong on the subject of religion ; which is, that be- 
fore any human institutions of government were known 
in the world, there existed, if I may so express it, a 
compact between God and man from the beginning of 
time; and that, as the relation and condition which 
man in his individual person stands in toward his 
Maker can not be changed by any human laws or hu- 
man authority, that religious devotion, which is a part 
of this compact, can not so much as be made a subject 
of human laws; and that all laws must conform them- 
selves, to the prior-existing compact, and not assume to 
make the compact conform to the laws, which, besides 
being human, are subsequent thereto. The first act of 
man, when he looked around and saw himself a crea- 
ture which he did not make, and a world furnished for 
his reception, must have been devotion; and devotion 



166 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

must ever continue sacred to every individual man, as 
it appears right to him, and governments do mischief 
by interfering/^ 

The next extract is from part second, near its close, 
and I would call the attention of the reader to the 
beauty of the allegory : 

'^ But as religion is very improperly made a political 
machine, and the reality of it is thereby destroyed, I 
will conclude this work with stating in what light re- 
ligion appears to me. 

" If we suppose a large family of children on any par- 
ticular day, or particular occasion, made it a custom to 
present to their parents some token of their affection 
and gratitude, each of them would make a different 
offering, and most probably in a different manner. 
Some would pay their congratulations in themes of 
verse and prose, others by some little devices, as their 
genius dictated or according to what they thought would 
please ; and, perhaps, the least of all, not able to do any 
of those things, would ramble into the garden or the 
field and gather what it thought the prettiest flower 
it could find, though perhaps it might be but a sim- 
ple weed. The parents would be more gratified by 
such a variety than if the whole of them had acted on 
a concerted plan, and each had made exactly the same 
offering. This would have the cold appearance of con- 
trivance, or the harsh one of control. But of all un- 
welcome things nothing would more afflict the parent 
than to know that the whole of them had afterwards 
gotten together by the ears, boys and girls, fighting, and 
reviling, and abusing each other about which was the 
best or the worst present. 



MENTAL QHABACTERISTICS, 167 

'^ Why may we not suppose that the great Father of 
all is pleased with a variety of devotion ; and that the 
greatest offense we can act is that by which we seek to 
torment and render each other miserable? For my 
own part I am fully satisfied that what I am now doing 
with an endeavor to conciliate mankind, to render their 
condition happy, to unite nations that have hitherto 
been enemies, and to extirpate the horrid practice of 
war, and break the chains of slavery and oppression, is 
estimable in his sight, and being the best service I 
can perform, I act it cheerfully. 

^^ I do not believe that any two men, on what are 
called doctrinal points, think alike who think at all.'^ 

[And this, my reader, is Thomas Paine who hath 
spoken. I would like to have Henry Ward Beecher, 
after he has read this book, take the above passage as a 
text and preach a sermon from it.] 

I now call attention to a few parallels : 

Paine. Junius, 

"A narrow system of " Superstition is certainly 
politics like a narrow sys- not the characteristic of 
tern of religion, is calcu- this age; yet some men are 
lated only to sour the tem- bigoted in politics who are 
per, and be at variance with infidels in religion.^^ — Let. 
mankind.^^ — Crisis, iii. 67. 

^' Secluded from the 
world, attached from his 
infancy to one set of per- 
sons and one set of ideas, 
he can neither open his heart to new connections nor 
his mind to better information. A character of this 
sort is the soil fittest to produce that obstinate bigotry 
in politics and religion which begins with a meritorious 



168 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

sacrifice of the understanding and finally conducts the 
monarch and the martyr to the block/^ — Let. 39. 

Junius is here speaking of the king, who with a nar- 
row understanding would naturally have a narrow sys- 
tem of politics and religion. But again : 

Paine. Junius. 

" We persecute no man, " The fundamental prin- 
neither will we abet in the ciples of Christianity may 
persecution of any man for still be preserved though 
religion's sake.'^ — Crisis, iii. every zealous sectary ad- 
'^ The writer of this is heres to his own exclusive 
one of those few who never doctrine, and pious ecclesi- 
dishonors religion, either astics make it part of their 
by ridiculing or caviling at religion to persecute one 
any denominations whatso- another.^' — Let. 68. 
ever. To God and not to " If I thought Junius 
man are all men accounta- capable of uttering a dis- 
ble on the score of relig- respectful word of the re- 
ion. '^ — Enistle to the Qua- ligion of his country I 
kers. should be the first to re- 

nounce and give him up to 
the public contempt and 
indignation." — Let. 54. 

Above it is Philo Junius who is speaking ; but 
the reader will remember he is the real Junius. He 
had been attacked for his impiety, and he puts Philo 
Junius forward to defend himself. The reader can not 
fail to notice the same hand in the last parallel. Paine 
says : " The ivriter of this is one of those few who never 
dishonors religion" by abusing the professors of it. 
And he never did. Junius ridiculed the ceremonial 
in tlie Catholic Church which denies the cup to the 



MENTAL CHABACTERmTICS. 169 

laiety ; and of this he says : " It is, in this country, as 
fair an object of ridicule as transuhstantiation, or any 
other part of Lord Peter's History in the Tale of the 
Tub." This reminds me of what Paine says of popery 
and Peter : ^^A man hath as good reason to believe that 
there is as much of kingcraft as priestcraft in with- 
holding the scripture from the public in popish coun- 
ti^es. For monarchy in every instance is the popery 
of government/' — Common Sense. In regard to Peter, 
we see the same temptation to touch his pen with satire 
and ridicule, and the passage may be found in Rights 
of Man, part first. It is as follows : ^' I will quote 
Mr. Burke's catalogue of barriers that he has set up be- 
tween man and his maker. Putting himself in the 
character of a herald, he says : ^ We fear God ; we look 
with awe to kings ; with affection to parliaments ; with 
duty to magistrates; with reverence to priests; and 
Tvith respect to fiobility.' Mr. Burke has forgot to put 
in chivalry. He has also forgot to put in Peter." 

They both considered it true that there is a wide 
difference between piety and morality. Paine himself 
says (and it is the noblest sentiment ever uttered by 
man) : " My country is the woeld, and my relig- 
ion IS TO DO GOOD." Junius frequently puts piety 
and morality in antithesis, as the following examples 
will show: '^They care not what injustice is practiced 
upon a man whose moral character they piously think 
themselves obliged to condemn." — Let. 39. '^ The un- 
feigned p>iety, the sanctified religion of George the Third 
have taught him to new-model the civil forces of the 
State. Corruption glitters in the van^" etc. Then, speak- 



170 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

ing of some of his predecessors^ he says : " They were 
kings or gentlemen, not hypocrites or priests. They 
were at the head of the Church, but did not know 
the vahie of their office. They said their prayers with- 
out ceremony, and had too little of priestcraft in their 
understanding to reconcile the sanctimonious forms of 
religion with the utter destruction of the morality of the 
people.^^ — Let. 55. 

But Mr. Paine was the inveterate enemy to priest- 
craft as well as kingcraft. His whole life was spent 
in waging war against the two. Let us now see what 
Junius thought of the former. I have shown him to 
run parallel with Mr. Paine in the latter. 

Junius says : " The resentment of a priest is impla- 
cable : no sufferings can soften ; no penitence can ap- 
pease." — Let. 53. In speaking of the Pev. Mr. Home, 
he says : " No, my lord ; it was the solitary, vindic- 
tive malice of a monk, brooding over the infirmities 
of his friends, until he thought they quickened into 
public life, and feasting with a rancorous rapture upon 
the sordid catalogue of his distresses. Now let him go 
back to his cloister. The Church is a proper retreat 
for him ; in his principles he is already a bishop. 
The mention of this man has moved me from my nat- 
ural moderation." — Let. 49. Again : 

" The priesthood are accused of misinterpreting the 
scriptures. Mr. Home has improved on his profession. 
He alters the text, and creates a refutable doctrine of 
his own." — Let. 53. 

The above passages can not be mistaken for Mr. 
Paine's spirit, style, and language. These tell us thpy 



MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS. 171 

are his with much more truth than a name attached to 
any writing tells us its author. 

It seems they both had the same opinion of a Meth- 



Paine. Junius. 

'' But when he [man] " You meanly evaded 
multiplies his creed with the question, and, instead 
imaginary things, he forces of the explicit firmness and 
his mind, and pretends to decision of a king, gave us 
believe what he does not nothing but the misery of 
believe. This is, in gen- a ruined grazier, and the 
eral, the case with the whining piety of a Method- 
Methodists — their religion istJ' — Let. 36. 
is all creed and no mor- 
als.''— Let. to Mr. Dean. 

Now the reader will recall the parallel I gave in re- 
gard to never dishonoring religion by saying any thing 
against particular forms or denominations. With the 
exception of the Catholic Church, this is the only in- 
stance which has fallen under my eye ; and it seems 
they had such a disliking to Methodism, a sarcasm must 
be let loose upon it. Trifling as this instance may 
seem, there is great force in its being solitary, and ap- 
parently contradictory to what they both before affirmed 
in general. Such an instance has, in fact, more weight 
than a score of parallels on common characteristics, for 
it shows a peculiar and strong bias in a particular di- 
rection. 

Of the term Christian there is no positive ground for 
a parallel, because it is one of no definite meaning. We 
call ourselves, as a nation, Christians; yet we are di- 



172 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

vided into a hundred forms of religion^ and many of 
them in the articles of faith contradictoiy and antago- 
nistic. Yet, in the fundamental principles of morality, 
we are, in common with all civilized races, agreed. The 
Christian religion happens to belong to the highest civi- 
lization, and we frequently use the term as synonymous 
with the morality of this civilization. But when we 
come to define strictly according to the theological im- 
port of the word, there are many of us who are not 
Christians. In the former sense, Mr. Paine and Junius 
were Christians ; in the latter sense, they were not. 
And now for the proof. Junius says, in Letter 15, to 
the Duke of Grafton : " It is not, indeed, the least of 
the thousand contradictions which attend you, that a 
man marked to the world by the grossest violation of 
ceremony and decorum, should be the first servant of a 
court in which prayer's are morality, and kneeling is relig- 
ion.^^ For this, and his attacks on the priesthood, and 
his frequently putting piety in antithesis to morality, he 
was at last accused of being an impious and irreligious 
man. He now puts Philo Junius forward to explain 
his religious views, who says, in Letter 54: "These 
candid critics never remember any thing he says in 
honor of our holy religion, though it is true that one of 
his leading arguments is made to rest ^upon the internal 
evidence which the purest of all religions carries with 
it.^ I quote his words, and conclude from them that 
he is a true and hearty Christian — in substance, not in 
ceremony — though possibly he may not agree with my 
reverend lords the bishops, or with the head of the 
Church, ^ that prayers are morality, or that kneeling is 
religion.' " 



MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS, 173 

That is, Junius was a Christian Avho, upon moral 
principles, did not say his prayers, and who thought 
that forms were no part of religion. In other words, 
if the highest morality was Christianity, he claimed to 
be a Christian, and would not stoop '^to reconcile the 
sanctimonious forms of religion with the utter destruc- 
tion of morality." 

This, too, was Mr. Paine^s Christianity. In a na- 
tional and moral sense he uses the term with approba- 
tion, but when in a theological sense he disowns it. He 
says, in Crisis, ii: "This ingratitude may suit a tory, 
or the unchristian peevishness of a fallen Quaker, but 
none else." In Crisis, i, he says : " I wish, with all the 
devotion of a Christian, that the names of whig and 
tory may never more be mentioned." To the Quakers 
he says : " Call not coldness of soul religion, nor put 
the higot in the place of the Clwistian.'^ In Common 
Sense he says: " For myself, I fully and conscientiously 
believe that it is the will of the Almighty that there 
should be a diversity of religious opinions among us. 
It affords a larger field for our Christian kindness." 
And again : '^ This new world hath been the asylum for 
the persecuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from 
every part of Europe. ... In this extensive quar- 
ter of the globe, we forget the narrow limits of three 
hundred and sixty miles (the extent of England), and 
carry our friendship on a larger scale ; we claim broth- 
erhood with every European Christian, and triumph in 
the generosity of the sentiment.^' 

The above are a few of the many passages in which 
he indorses Christianity. But Christian here means 
only its moral phase or principles, and these principles 



174 juniUjS- unmasked. 

exalted by the feeling of universal brotherhood. But 
in a theological sense he uses the' term very differently, 
and by keeping this fact in view, he is readily under- 
stood, and there is only the contradiction which the use 
of the word by common consent carries with it. In 
the Age of Reason, Conclusion, he says: "Of all the 
systems of religion that ever were invented there is 
none more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedify- 
ing to man, more repugnant to reason, and more con- 
tradictory in itself, than this thing called Christianity." 

They both had the same views of Jesus. Mr. Paine 
says in the Age of Reason, part i : " Nothing that is 
here said can apply, even with the most distant disre- 
spect, to the real character of Jesus Christ. He was 
a virtuous and amiable man. The morality that he 
preached and practiced was of the most benevolent 
kind; and though similar systems of morality had been 
preached by Confucius and by some of the Greek phi- 
losophers many years before, and by the Quakers since, 
and by many good men in all ages, it has not been ex- 
ceeded by any He preached most excellent 

morality, and the equality of man ; but he preached 
also against the corruptions and avarice of the Jewish 
priests, and this brought upon him the hatred and 
vengeance of the whole order of the priesthood." And 
between the Romans and the Jews 'Hhis virtuous re- 
former and revolutionist lost his life." 

Junius, near the close of his last letter but one, boldly 
affirms Jesus a man. He says : " The holy author of 
our religion was seen in the company of sinners, but it 
was his gracious purpose to convert them from' their 



MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS. 175 

sins. Another man [the king], who, in the ceremonies 
of our faith, might give lessons to the great enemy of 
it [the devil] upon different principles, keeps much the 
same company/^ 

Neither Mr. Paine nor Junius were superstitious. 
And first of Paine. In Crisis, i, he says: '^ I have as 
\\tt\Q superstition in me as any man living, but my 
secret opinion has ever been, and still is, that God Al- 
mighty will not give up, to military destruction, a peo- 
ple," etc. 

Junius says, in Letter 36, note : '^ Every coward pre- 
tends to be planet-struck." And in Letter 49, satir- 
izing Lord Bute, he says : " When that noxious planet 
approaches England, he never fails to bring plague and 
pestilence along with him." In Letter 67 he says: 
" Superstition is certainly not the characteristic of this 
age; yet some men are bigoted in politics who are 
infidels in religion. I do not despair of making them 
ashamed of their credulity." 

Above, Junius also casts an aspersion upon the term 
infidel. Mr. Paine was very tender upon this point, 
and could not bear to be taunted with infidelity. He 
says : '^ Infidelity is believing falsely. If what Chris- 
tians believe is not true, it is the Christians that are 
the infidels." — Remarks on R. HalFs sermon. In the 
Examination of the Prophecies, he concludes with 
this sentence, emphasized as follows: ^^He that be- 
lieves IN THE STORY OF ChRIST, IS AN INFIDEL TO 
God." He also defines infidelity as being unfaithful to 
one's own convictions. In the Age of Reason, part i, 



176 JUNIUS UNMASKED, 

he says : " Infidelity consists in professing to believe 
what he does not believe/^ He also uses the word as 
synonymous with atheist, in his Discourse to the Theo- 
philanthropists, as will be seen by reference to page 163 
of this book. 

I have heretofore given the views of Junius on Frayer. 
See page 172. It now remains to give Mr. Paine's views. 
In his Letter to Samuel Adams he says : "A man does 
not serve God when he prays, for it is himself he is try- 
ing to serve; and as to hiring or paying men to pray, 
as if the Deity needed instruction, it is, in my opinion, 
an abomination.^^ 

They both believe in the divine justice of retribu- 
tion and future punishn;ient. Junius says : " The di- 
vine justice of retribution seems now to have begun its 
progress. Deliberate treachery entails punishment upon 
the traitor. There is no possibility of escaping it." — 
Let. 66. ^^A death -bed repentance seldom reaches to 
restitution." — Dedication. 

Mr. Paine says, in Crisis, ii, to Lord Howe : " How 
many you have thus privately sacrificed we know not, 
and the account can only be settled in another world." 
And in Crisis, v, to the same man, he says : ''You may, 
perhaps, be unwilling to be serious, but this destruction 
of the goods of Providence, this havoc of the human 
race, and this sowing the world with mischief, must be 
accounted for to him who made and governs it." 

But I will give a positive affirmation of the fact. In 
the Age of Reason, near the close of the Second Part, 
he says : " The existence of an Almighty power is suf- 



MENTAL CHABACTEBISTICS. I77 

ficiently demonstrated to us AYe must know, 

also, that the power that called us into being can, if be 
pleases, and wben be pleases, call us to account for tbe 
manner in wbicb we have lived here; and therefore, 
without seeking any other motive for the belief, it is 
rational to believe that he will, for we know before- 
hand that he can The probability that we may 

be called to account hereafter, will, to a reflecting mind, 
have the influence of belief; for it is not our belief or 
unbelief that can make or unmake the fact. As this is 
the state we are in, and which it is proper we should be 
in, as free agents, it is the fool only, and not the phi- 
losopher or even the prudent man, that would live as 
if there were no God.^^ 

Religiously, he can quite properly be classed with 
Theodore Parker. He stands close at his side, and, 
having preceded him, a shoulder higher. Yet, in this 
regard, Mr. Parker treats him with contempt. 

The reader will be pleased to read the following 
letters ; the one from Horace Seaver to Mr. Parker, 
and the reply : 

Boston, January 11, 1843. 

Rev. ai^d Dear Sir: — As chairman of the com- 
mittee of arrangement for the celebration of Thomas 
Paine's birth-day in this city, on the 30th instant, I am 
instructed to perform the highly pleasing duty of so- 
liciting the honor of your company at the dinner; and 
to say to you in addition, that it would give the com- 
mittee great pleasure, as well as many others of your 
personal friends, if your health and time will allow 
you to comply with this invitation. 

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

Horace Seaver. 



178 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

West Roxhury, January 14, 1843. 

Dear Sir : — Your favor of the 11th instant came 
in my absence from home, and I now hasten to reply 
to the invitation you offer me. With the views I en- 
tertain of Mr. Paine's character in his later years, I 
could not, consistently with my own sense of duty, 
join with you in celebrating his birth-day. I feel 
grateful, truly so, for the services rendered by his po- 
litical writings, and his practical efforts in the cause 
of freedom ; though with what I understand to be the 
spirit of his writings on theology and religion, I have 
not the smallest sympathy. 

I am, respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

Theodore Parker. 

This is one arch-heretic trampling on his brother in 
the holy name of religion. Yet the great work which 
Thomas Paine performed before Mr. Parker was con- 
ceived in the womb of Time, made a Theodore Parker 
possible. Parker stood on the shoulders of Thomas 
Paine, and he uttered scarcely a thought on religion 
and theology which Mr. Paine had not written before 
him. Mr. Parker translated DeAYette, but Mr. Paine's 
second part of the Age of Reason, as an original 
investigation and critical examination of the Bible, 
will be read when Parker's translation of DeWette 
is forgotten. The latter is a scholar's effort, dry, 
voluminous, costly, and soon to be laid away forever; 
the former, a friend^s offering to mankind, brought 
within the reach of their understanding and their 
means. As an argument it has never been equaled ; as 
a theological work it is fair and candid; as a religious 
work it breathes the spirit of forbearance, kindness, 



MENTAL CHABACTERISTICS. 179 

morality, and brotherly love. I have searched in vain 
to find the authority for Mr. Parker's religious hatred 
to Thomas Paine. They taught the same morality and 
religion, the same theology, the same retributive jus- 
tice, and denounced boldly the same errors in politics 
and religion; and differed only in this that Mr. Par- 
ker said his prayers in j^ublic, and Mr. Paine in private. 
The hatred to Mr. Paine is perhaps inherited, and we 
stand in awe of him as of the devil, without a reason 
and without knowing why. The Egyptian children 
still startle at the name of " Bonaparte;'' the American 
children at the name of Thomas Paine ; and Mr. Par- 
ker never outgrew this superstition of his youth. But 
the historian may safely record : Without Thomas Faine, 
.there would have been no Theodore Parher, 

The reader can not fail to see the substantial elements 
of the Quaker character in Junius, if we let Mr. Paine 
define it. In the Age of Reason, second part, he says : 
^^ The only sect that has not persecuted are the Qua- 
kers, and the only reason that can be given for it is, 
that they are rather Deists than Christians. They do 
not believe much about Jesus Christ, and they call the 
Scriptures a dead letter." 

The Quakers have no priesthood. With them the 
power to teach is the immediate gift of God, and they 
speak as they are moved by the Spirit, and what they 
say is by the inspiration of the inner light. They have 
neither pulpit nor church, and in their meeting there 
is neither ceremony nor song, nor the dull routine of 
stated prayers. They oppose war, slavery, intemper- 
ance, litigation, extravagance, profanity, and priest- 
12 



180 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

"t 

craft. Dancing and dressing in the fashion of the day 
they forbid. Their religion consists in morality ; not 
in ceremony and show. They hate a bishop as they 
hate a tyrant, and they hold an honest man the noblest 
Avork of God. What could be more like Junius than 
this? But if this does not satisfy the reader the evi- 
dence of Junius himself would have little weight. But 
he positively affirms the principles of the Quakers as 
the true religion, and this ought to satisfy the most 
doubtful. At the close of Letter 41, he says: "An 
honest man, like the true religion, appeals to the under- 
standing, or modestly confides in the internal evidences 
of his conscience. The impostor employs /orce instead 
of argument, imposes silence when he can not convince, 
and propagates his character by the swordJ^ This 
proves Junius to be a Quaker, in principle. No one 
can mistake the expression : " The internal evidences 
of the conscience," which often comes so forcibly from 
Junius. And says Paine also : "As for morality, the 
knowledge of it exists in every man's conscience.^' 
Were an artist called upon to produce a picture of 
Junius' moral, political, and religious character, he 
could give no shade or stroke which he could not find 
full and distinct in the living character of Mr. Paine. 
Although Thomas Paine was not a professed Quaker, 
yet the rigid Quaker principles of moral conduct spoke 
out in every action ; and while he did not spare their 
errors, he spoke highly of them as a sect. He chas- 
tised, them with an unsparing hand, but it was in 
friendship, not in revenge. He loved their austere 
worship, he sought their society, he walked in their 
ways, and often paid them a tribute of praise. In 



MENTAL C:iARACTERISTIOS. 181 

short, by birth he was a Quaker, but by profession not. 
He was himself, an original man thrown out upon 
earth, born for a purpose, which he fulfilled. 

But the moral character of Junius was the same; 
he proves it so in a hundred different ways ; in his 
pride of character, in his love of justice, in his sympa- 
thies for the people, in his declaration of human rights, 
in the austerity of his morals, in his faith in the inte- 
rior evidence of the conscience, in his hatred to bad 
men and bad measures, in his moral courage to attack 
the strongholds of political corruption. No one but a 
man having a double portion of Quaker principles and 
Quaker spirit could talk as did Junius to the king, 
unmasking him before the public, and exposing his 
weakness, wickedness, folly, and stupidity. And 
herein nature comes powerfully in to my aid in my 
argument. In fact, it is my only object to trace the 
lines of argument which nature has drawn, and never 
to descend to art. 

Says Mr. Paine : " It sometimes happens, as well in 
writing as in conversation, that a person lets slip an 
expression that serves to unravel what he intends to 
conceal." I will take him at his word and quote two 
short passages of his own, giving a few strokes of his 
personal history : " If I have anywhere expressed my- 
self over- warmly, 'tis from a fixed, immovable hatred 
I have, and ever had, to cruel men and cruel meas- 
ures. I have likewise an aversion to monarchy, as 
being too debasing to the dignity of man, but I never 
troubled others with my notions till very lately, nor ever 
published a syllable in England in my life. What I 



182 JUNIU8 UNMASKED. 

write is pure nature, and my pen and my soul have 
ever gone together. My writings I have always given 
away, reserving only the expense of printing and 
paper, and sometimes not even that. I never courted 
either fame or interest, and my manner of life, to those 
who know it, will justify what I say. My study is to 
be useful.'^ 

The above was thrown into the body of Crisis, ii, 
and addressed to Lord Howe. Let us examine its sep- 
arate counts: 

I. '^ Hatred to cruel men and cruel measures.'^ See 
on this head the hatred of Junius to the tyrant in any 
form, to the ^' hoary lecher/^ Lord Irnham, to the 
*^ monsters^' of the house of Bedford, and the "worst 
man in the kingdom," Lord Mansfield. 

II. "An aversion to monarchy, as being too debas- 
ing to the dignity of man." This is the key-note to 
Jmiius. 

III. " Never troubled others with my notions till 
very lately." This was dated January 13, 1777, just 
one year after Common Sense, and just five years 
after the last Letter of Junius. Very lately is an indefi- 
nite expression, and is meant to pave the way for the 
next, which was designed to mislead the unwary, and 
here we see unmistakable evidence of Junius. 

IV. " I never published a syllable in England in my 
life." When Woodfall was prosecuted for publishing 
Junius' Letter to the king, the jury found him '' guilty 
of publishing onlyJ^ Then Junius, whoever he was, 
never published a syllable of the Letters. But Mr. 
Paine wrote a pamphlet, "The Case of the Excise 
Officers," while in England, and it was published by a 



MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS. 183 

Mr. Lee. To the untblnking, the sentence: "I never 
published a syllable in England in my life/' would be 
proof at first that he never wrote for the press, but a 
moment's thought will show it to be an innocent sub- 
terfuge. But why this subterfuge, if Mr. Paine was 
not Junius, and he had not yet a work to perform in 
England? If not Junius, what is the meaning of it? 
Why did he say it ? The reader must answer. 

V. " My writings I have always given away.'' Ju- 
nius gave to Mr. Woodfall the whole of his Letters. 
See his Preface. 

YI. ^' I never courted either fame or interest." Says 
Junius : " To write for profit, without taxing the press ; 
to write for fame and be unknown; to support the in- 
trigues of faction, and be disowned by every party in 
the kingdom, are contradictions," etc. That is, he was 
charged with writing for fame and interest, and he 
thus contradicts it. 

VII. " What I write is pure nature." Thus, Junius 
says : " The works of a master require no index, his 
features and coloring are taken from nature;" and a 
hundred other examples could be given. 

A^III. *^ My study is to be useful." Thus also Ju- 
nius : ^^Is there no merit in dedicating my life to the 
information of my fellow-subjects? He is not paid 
for his labor, and certainly has a right to choose his 
employment." 

It is thus I could take every statement of Thomas 
Paine, either of previous life, private purpose, or pub- 
lic principle, and find its counterpart in Junius. This 
could not be done were not the two characters the 
same person. Take again, for example, the statement 



1§4 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

in Crisis, xv. Speaking of the part he took in 
the revohition, he says : 

I. " So far as my endeavors could go, they have all been 
directed to conciliate the affections, unite the interests, 
and draw and keep the mind of the country together ; 
(II) and the better to assist in this foundation work of 
the revolution, I have avoided all places of profit or 
office, either in the State I live in or in the United 
States, kept myself at a distance from all parties and 
party connections, and even disregarded all private and 
inferior concerns ; and when we take into view the great 
work which we have gone through, and feel, as we 
ought to feel, the first importance of it, we shall then 
see that the little wranglings and indecent contentions 
of personal parley are as dishonorable to our characters 
as they are injurious to our purpose. (Ill) It was the 
cause of America that made me an author. The force 
with which it struck my mind, and the dangerous con- 
dition the country appeared to me in, by courting an 
impossible and unnatural reconciliation with those who 
were determined to reduce her, instead of striking out 
into the only line that could cement and save her — A 
Declaration of In^dependence — made it impossible 
for me, feeling as I did, to be silent : (IV) and if in the 
course of more than seven years I have rendered her any 
service, I have likewise added something to the reputa- 
tion of literature, by freely and disinterestedly employ- 
ing it in the great cause of mankind, and showing that 
there may be genius without prostitution.^^ 

Compare now the above with Junius, as follows: 
I. " It is time for those who really mean the Cause and 
the People, who have no view to private advantage, and 



MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS. 185 

who have virtue enough to prefer the general good of 
the community to the gratification of personal animos- 
ities: it is time for such men to interpose. Let us try 
whether these fatal dissensions may not yet be reconciled, 
or if that be impracticable, let us guard at least against 
the worst effects of division, and endeavor to persuade 
these furious partisans, if they will not consent to draw 
together, to be separately useful to that cause which 
they all pretend to be attached to." II. " To write for 
profit without taxing the press, to write for fame and 
to be unknown, to support the intrigues of factions and 
to be disowned as a dapgerous auxiliary by every party 
in the kingdom are contradictions which the minister 
must reconcile before I forfeit my credit with the public.'^ 
III. "It was the cause of America that made me an 
author," says Paine. This is true of Junius ; for the 
troubles which called him forth are well known to be 
those of America. But he would never have been 
known, perhaps, had he not written Common Sense, 
which was published anonymously, and was at first at- 
tributed to Benjamin Franklin. IV. "The reputation 
of these papers is an honorable pledge for my attach- 
ment to the people .... These letters, my lord, are 
read in other countries and in other languages. For 
my own part, I claim no merit from endeavoring to do 
a service to my fellow-subjects. I have done it to the 
best of my understanding, and without looking for the 
approbation of other men, my conscience is satisfied." 



186 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 



EEVIEW. 



Let us now retrace our steps^ and see how strong a 
case is made out. 

1. Twelve facts in the life of Mr. Paine shown to be 
the same as those in Junius. 

2. An apparent contradiction proven to be a parallel 
fact. 

3. They both represent Quaker principles. 

4. They have the same views of conscience. 

6. Both believe in the divine justice of retribution. 

6. Both believe in future punishment. 

7. Both have the same views of prayer. 

8. Both have the same dislike to the word infidel. 

9. Both have the same opinion of Jesus of Nazareth. 

10. Both have the same views of Christianity. 

11. Both use the term Christian the same. 

12. Both had a special dislike to Methodism. 

13. Both were inveterate enemies to priestcraft. 

14. Both made a wide difference between piety and 
morality. 

15. Both had the same views of the Catholic faith. 

16. Both ridiculed "Peter." 

17. Both affirmed that they did not persecute for re- 
ligious opinion. 

18. Both hated a narrow system in politics or re- 
ligion. 

19. Both had the same views of "religion." 

20. Both had the same views of superstition. 

21. Both had the same views of atheism. 

22. Both had the same views of providence. 



BE VIEW. 187 

23. Both had the same views of the theater. 

24. Both detested gamblers and gambling. 

25. Both had the same opinion of the English Con- 
stitution. 

26. Both were extremely cautious. 

27. Both were extremely politic. 

28. Both loved method. 

29. Both evinced the same kind of method in writing. 

30. Both had the same views of the origin of mil- 
itary governments. 

31. Both had the same views of party politics.. 

32. Neither would take part in party politics. 

33. Both had the same pride of character. 

34. Both had the same views of the English army. 

35. Both loved free thought. 

36. Both thought alike of suspicion. 

37. Both expressed the same views of antagonism. 

38. Both placed personal interest above strict moral 
right. 

39. Both thought alike of oaths. 

40. They had the same opinion of courts and courtiers. 

41. They considered the termination of the Seven 
Years' War a distinguished period, and dated the mis- 
fortunes and establishment of tyranny in England from 
that period. 

42. They both had the same opinion of Lord North. 

43. Both had the same opinion of Lord Mansfield. 

44. Both had the same views of precedent. 

45. Both had the same opinion of lawyers. 

46. Both had the same views of the cause of America. 

47. Both had the same views of the minority in 
England. 



188 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

48. And herein the same views of Lord Chatham. 
■ 49. Both traced the rights of man back to their 
origin. 

50. Both express themselves alike in regard to laws 
in general. 

51. Both express themselves alike in regard to the 
game laiv. ■ 

52. Both declare law to be king. 

53. They had the same predilections in regard to 
politics. 

54. They were neither of them partisans. 

55. They were both practical. 

56. Both often appealed to experience and the evi- 
dence of facts. 

57. Both assert the mind becomes what it contem- 
plates. 

58. Both were deeply read in the " history of the hu- 
man heart.' ^ 

59. Both delight in charging bastardy. 

60. Secretiveness was a ruling characteristic. 

61. Both had the same opinion of moderate men. 

62. They were botli enthusiasts. 

63. Both were too proud to be vain or to flatter. 

64. Both placed too high an estimate on the judg- 
ment of the masses. 

65. Both were excessively hopeful. 

6Q. Personal honor unparalleled in history. 

67. Both express themselves alike in regard to av- 
arice and the miser. 

68. Both often assert that " language fails." 

69. Both have the same method of argumentation, 
and hereunder many parallels are given. 



BEVIEW. 189 

70. Both have the same style, and hereunder many 
parallels are given. 

71. More than sixty parallel expressions and figures 
of speech are given. 

72. They both use the same kind of figures the most 
frequently. 

73. They use the figure in the same manner, and 
usually one at the close of an article. 

74. Both use the same facts and figure to illustrate 
national honor. 

75. The same rythm in style is common to both. 

76. The same alliteration. 

77. The same method of bringing the subject into 
one view. 

78. The wandering from the point and mentioning 
the fact. 

79. The same threat, command, and warning. 

80. The same method of ridicule and satire. 

81. The same use of diminutives. 

82. The same sacrifice of grammar to conciseness. 

83. The same majesty and grandeur of style. 

84. Common Sense parallels tvith Junius, in many 
ways, and hereunder more than forty examples, which 
to repeat would be to rewrite them. 

85. They were both revolutionists. 

86. They both dedicated their life to the same ob- 
ject: to remove some wrong, to do mankind some 
good. 

87. They both attacked the King of England and 
his ministry in the same spirit and language. 

88. Both had the same opinion of bribery at elec- 
tions. 



190 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

89. They were both political reformers, following 
the same principle without pay and above party. 

In the above argument I have given nearly three 
hundred parallel facts and characteristics, many of them 
of such a nature that it would be at variance with na- 
ture itself to suppose them to belong to different men. 
But I have also searched for a solitary fact which 
would in the least render Mr. Paine and Junius in- 
compatible, and have found it not. This is a task I 
hope some reader, who has some means and ample 
time, will devote a year or two to investigate. My 
case is much stronger than I hoped even to make it. I 
have by no means given all the facts and parallels, but 
where one would answer, I put it in the place of several 
on the same subject. I have labored to condense — not 
to expand; I have, therefore, commented but little, 
and reasoned scarcely any. There is no reasoning 
which is superior to the simple declaration of facts. It 
should be the office of the writer to present facts to 
A REASONING WORLD. The literary world has had 
enough of the whirlwind of words ; it wants a deluge 
of facts. Then each mind will take care of itself, if 
worth preserving. To this end I subjoin Lord Macau- 
lay's five reasons why Sir Philip Francis was Junius: 

" Was he the author of the Letters of Junius ? Our 
own firm belief is that he was. The external evidence 
is, we think, such as would support a verdict in a 
civil — nay, in a criminal proceeding. The handwriting 
of Junius is the very peculiar handwriting of Francis, 
slightly disguised. As to the position, pursuits, and 
connections of Junius, the following are the most im- 



BEVIEW. 191 

portant facts, which can be considered as clearly proved : 
First, that he was acquainted with the technical forms 
of the Secretary of State's office ; secondly, that he was 
intimately acquainted with the business of the War Of- 
fice; thirdly, that he, during the year 1770, attended 
debates in the House of Lords, and took notes of 
speeches — particularly of the speeches of Lord Chat- 
ham ; fourthly, that he bitterly resented the appoint- 
ment of Mr. Chamier to the place of Deputy Secretary 
at War ; fifthly, that he was bound by some strong tie 
to the first Lord Holland. . . . JS^ow here are five 
marks, all of which ought to be found in Junius. 
They are all five found in Francis. We do not believe 
that more than two of them can be found in any other 
person whatever. If this argument does not settle the 
question, there is an end of all reasoning on circumstan- 
tial evidence.^' 

If that kind and amount of evidence would hang a 
man in the time of Macaulay, the times have so 
changed that it takes far stronger evidence to hang men 
now than then. That kind of evidence is absolutely 
worthless for two reasons : first, the facts alleged in the 
separate counts are neither of them necessary to the pro- 
duction of Junius; and, secondly, they would prove 
nothing if they were, for they might be common to a 
hundred men, and that they were not would be matter 
of fact to prove. Even Macaulay makes this rest on 
his own belief, " We do not believe,'' he says, " that 
more than two of them can be found in any other per- 
son whatever. '' But the fact is, they are absolutely 
^^ imaginary/' and not at all necessary. 

"The internal evidence,'' he says, ''seems to point in 



192 JUNIUS UN3IASKEB. 

the same way/^ First, he acknowledges that Francis, 
as a writer, is inferior to Junius, but not ^' decidedly,'^ 
and then he goes on to say : "One of the strongest rea- 
sons for believing that Francis was Junius, is the moral 
resemblance between the two men/^ Macaulay now 
sets up a character for Junius, the most of which is not 
to be found in Junius, and says it is like Francis. It 
is thus he imj^oses on the credulity of the ignorant. 
But I give his words, that the reader may investigate 
f3r himself: 

. "It is not difficult, from the letters which, under va- 
rious signatures y are known to have been written by 
Junius, and from his dealings with Woodfall and oth- 
ers, to form a tolerable correct notion of his character.^' 
I call the attention of the reader to the above sentence, 
and have emphasized the word ^'notion" and the phrase 
^^ various signatures. '^^ Of the former, I would remark 
that a notio7i of one's character falls far short of a judg- 
ment, and in a criticism is not only trifling, but con- 
temptible. In regard to " various signatures," I will 
let Junius himself answer : " The encouragement given 
to a multitude of spurious, mangled publications of the 
'Letters of Junius,' persuades me that a complete edi- 
tion, corrected and improved by the author, will be fa- 
vorably received." — Preface. In this volume his sig- 
nature is Junius, and occasionally, when he wishes to 
explain the meaning, or defend the principle, he puts 
forward Philo Junius, but never without this cause. I 
now proceed to give the character which Macaulay has 
picked up — I know not ivhere : 

"He was clearly a man not destitute of real patriotism 
and magnanimity — a man whose vices were not of a 



BE VIEW. 193 

sordid kind. But he must also have been a man in the 
highest degree arrogant and insolent — a man prone to 
malevolence, and prone to the error of mistaking his 
malevolence for public virtue. ^Doest thou well to be 
angry?' was the question asked in olden time of the 
Hebrew prophet, and he answered : ^ I do well.' This 
was evidently the temper of Junius, and to this cause 
we attribute the savage crueltv which disg:races several 
of his Letters. No man is so merciless as he who, un- 
der a strong self-delusion, confounds his antipathies 
with his duties. It may be added that Junius, though 
allied with the democratic party by common enmities, 
was the very opposite of a democratic politician. While 
attacking individuals with a ferocity which perpetually 
violated all the laws of literary warfare, he regarded the 
most defective parts of the old constitution with a re- 
spect amountiug to pedantry ; pleaded the cause of Old 
Saurum with fervor, and contemptuously told the capi- 
talists of Manchester and Leeds that, if they wanted 
votes, they might buy land and become freeholders of 
Lancashire and Yorkshire. All this, we believe, might 
stand, with scarcely any change, for a character of 
Philip Francis.'' 

Thus much Macaulay. Where he got the above 
character I am unable to tell, unless out of his own im- 
agination. Before I answer it, I will give another per- 
version of the truth. Dr. Goodrich concludes his ar- 
ticle on Junius as follows: "Junius continued his la- 
bors, with various ability, but with little success, nearly 
two years longer; until, in the month of January, 1772, 
the king remarked to a friend in confidence: ^Junius 
is known, and will write no more.' Such proved to be 



194 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

the fact. His last performance was dated January 21, 
1772, three years to a day from his first letter to the 
printer of the Public Advertiser. Within a/e?y months^ 
Sir Philip Francis was appointed to one of the high- 
est stations o^ jprofit and trust in India, at a distance of 
fifteen thousand miles from the seat of English politics ! '^ 

The ''few months^' in the above sentence is just a 
year and a half after the king "remarked in confi- 
dence,'^ etc. But Francis did not go to India for more 
than two and a half years after. In March, 1772, he 
resigned his clerkship in the war department, in conse- 
quence of a quarrel with Lord Barrington, the new 
Minister at War. He then left England, and traveled 
on the continent the remainder of the year ; in the June 
following he was appointed one of the Council of Ben- 
gal, with a salary of £10,000, and in the summer of 
1774 went to India. That fall Thomas Paine came to 
America. It is thus the phrase " a few months/^ art- 
fully put into a sentence in connection with the supposed 
fact that the king had found out Junius, and had bribed 
him to stop writing, would mislead the mind, and per- 
vert a reasonable conclusion. This is a trick of the 
pen, and to which no honorable mind will descend. 
The fact is, Francis would never have been thought of 
as Junius, had he not been an intimate friend and 
schoolmate of Mr. WoodfalPs. 

But the above argument, summed up by Lord Ma- 
caulay, is the strongest on record for any man till now. 
I was not aware of its weakness till wow. I supposed 
there was a plausible argument at least. To be an- 
swered, it needs only to be appended to this. I speak 
without vanity, for the argument is nature's own, not 



BE VIEW. 195 

mine. I will honor it, therefore, with a rebuttal from 
Junius himself. In Letter 44 he says : ^' I may quit 
the service, but it would be absurd to suspect me of de- 
sertion. The reputation of these papers is an honorable 
pledge for my attachment to the people. To sacrifice 
a respected character, and to renounce the esteem of 
sockty, requires more than Mr. Wedderburn's resolu- 
tion ; and though in him it was rather a profession than 
a desertion of his principles (I speak tenderly of this 
gentleman, for, when treachery is in question, I think 
we should make allowances for a Scotchman), yet we 
have seen him in the House of Commons, overwhelmed 
with confusion, and almost bereft of his faculties. But 
in truth, sir, I have left no room for an accommodation 
with the piety of St. James'. My offenses are not to be 
redeemed by recantation or repentance : on one side, 
our warmest patriots would disclaim me as a burthen 
to their honest ambition ; on the other, the vilest pros- 
titution, if Junius could descend to it, would lose its 
natural merit and influence in the cabinet, and treachery 
be no longer a recommendation to the royal favor.'' 

There is not, among the dregs or scummings of hu- 
man nature, a character so false and vile as to WTite 
that, and then do as Francis did, or do as the king of 
England did, if he believed him to be Junius. Nature 
rebels at such an argument, founded on the facts of the 
case. It is by a species of subterfuge, or literary leger- 
demain, exhibiting some facts and hiding others, call- 
ing the attention to some trifling thing, and then con- 
cealing the truth of the matter, is all that has ever 
rendered the argument in favor of Francis of any con- 
sequence with the public. There is more, for example, 
13 



196 jujStiujS unmasked, 

in the one word Lord, placed just in front of Macaulay, 
than in any argument he may give on the subject. In 
fact, that word imposes on the mind an authority not 
easily resisted. It obscures the reason, quiets investi- 
gation, destroys the desire to search, beguiles thought, 
puts the mind to sleep, and the reader, like a young 
bird with eyes closed and mouth open, takes the food 
from out the old one's mouth, gulps it down, and goes 
to sleep. It is thus the student and the professor take, 
on authority, what they have no business to, and do 
what they never would do, did their own souls not bow 
basely at the shrine of some literary Baal. It is thus 
in politics, religion, history, law, philosophy, criticism, 
belles-lettres, science — whichever way we turn we find 
the false god and his worshipers. When the student and 
the professor come to find Mr. Macaulay to be a man of 
much talent in a certain direction, but by no means a 
literary god to be worshiped as infallible, they will lose 
faith in his assertions which come without proof. 

It had been my intention to throw a few hints into 
the Introduction upon external and internal evidence, as 
it is called, but I concluded to defer it till now, because 
the remarks and the illustrations would then be thrown 
together. 

In a criticism of this kind, but little confidence can be 
placed in external evidence, because it all comes within 
the realm of art or accident, and any scientific truth 
can not be founded thereon. For example, Macaulay 
says: '^ The handwriting of Junius is the very peculiar 
handwriting of Francis, slightly disguised.^' Hand- 
writing is an art, just like chopping wood or playing 
on the piano. And to tell who wrote an article by the 



REVIEW. 197 

^^ peculiar" handwritings is about as safe as to hazard 
an opinion n^ow who is chopping wood by the ^^ pecu- 
liar" swing of the ax. Nor does the same individual 
always write in the same style or manner. Such proof 
is good for nothing. And this is the nature of all ex- 
ternal evidence, and is the cause of the endless litigation 
in our courts. A man may go on the stand and swear 
to a lie. I have known men do it. Then we draw 
inferences from the associations of men, which the real 
facts of the case might not warrant. The accidents of 
place and position, of friendships and age, of times and 
circumstances, and even of existence, all may or may 
not, in a world fall of men, have bearing on the facts 
which form the opinion of an outside spectator. For 
example, Francis, it is said, " did not deny that he was 
Junius." If he had denied or affirmed he was, it would 
have proved just the same. It belongs to the most 
worthless kind of external evidence. A naturalist does 
not ask his horse whether or not he is a horse. If the 
horse could speak and say to his master, '^ I am a jack- 
ass," the master Avould be a fool to believe him. It is 
thus persons often put on a character in a w^ord or two 
which does not belong to them, but nature takes care 
to always reveal the true character, if they say much. 
Now if we could get within the meaning of the words, 
get behind them to the spirit of their author, we would 
be getting at the very soul of evidence. This would 
be true, and we could found a scientific conclusion upon 
it, because natural and not artificial. This is internal 
evidence. At present, this kind of evidence is known 
only in such a criticism as this, for the soul of the author 
shines out of his work, I care not who he is. We may, 



198 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

for aught I know, write our history on all, we touch. If 
so, science will some day give the world a knowledge 
of it. It is then external evidence will have ceased. 

In a work of this kind, it is incumbent on the critic 
to ascertain, first, the spirit and object of the work, and 
then to see if it be inconsistent with itself. If it is not, 
then the character he finds will be true to nature, and 
he can not go wrong in his conclusions. There is a 
passage in Letter 53 on this very point. Junius is 
speaking of the Rev. Mr. Home, and says : ^' He re- 
peatedly affirms, or intimates, at least, that he knows 
the author of these Letters. With what color of truth, 
then, can he pretend ' that I am nowhere to be encoun- 
tered but in a newspaper?^ I shall leave him to his 
suspicions. It is not necessary that I should confide in 
the honor and discretion of a man who always seems to 
hate me with as much rancor as if I had formerly been 
his friend. But he asserts that he has traced me through 
a variety of signatures. To make the discovery of any 
importance to his purpose, he should have proved either 
that the fictitious character of Junius has not been con- 
sistently supported, or that the author has maintained 
different principles under different signatures. I can 
not recall to my memory the numberless trifles I have 
written ; hut I rely on the consoiousness of my own in- 
tegrity, and defy him to fix any colorable charge of 
inconsistency upon me.^^ 

^ow, what have I shown? It is that the character 
of Thomas Paine, as found in his writings (not in what 
people say about him), is the very same character, with 
all its shades and coloring, which is found in the Let- 



REVIEW. 199 

TEES OF Junius. This is shown by the best and 
strongest evidence under the sun, internal evidence, 
I have purposely avoided all external evidence, from 
the mere fact of its worthlessness, inasmuch as it is that 
kind of evidence which itself needs proof. If, fOr ex- 
ample, Thomas Paine had said to some one : '.' I wrote 
Junius,'^ it would be no evidence to me, and would 
weigh just the same as if he had said : " I did not 
write Junius.^^ It is external evidence, and may be a 
lie, for lying is common to mankind. It is that kind 
of evidence which needs proof. But nature never 
makes two great characters alike, nor at the same 
time. She is prodigal of varieties. And if two char- 
acters seem alike, it is because of their insignificance; 
the orbit of their life is so small it can not be meas- 
ured. But when a Paine, or a Parker, or a Luther, or 
a Jesus, is let loose on earth, they each describe an 
orbit so large and peculiar there is no mistaking it for 
any thing else the world ever exhibits among men. 
And in their earthly pilgrimage, however seemingly 
erratic in their course, nature holds them true to her 
purposes, and holds up no lie therein to deceive the 
senses. She is true, also, to herself, in giving to us 
these world's redeemers. 

My argument, then, is, Nature would not be natural 
if Thomas Paine were not Junius, a mere absurdity. 
But let us suppose he is not. Then, to make out the 
case, strong evidence of the same internal kind would 
have to be produced in favor of this supposition. But 
I have searched for a solitary fact which would even 
tend to contradict my hypothesis, and have not found 
it. And I frankly confess, had I found it, this book 



200 JUNIUS UNMASKED. 

would not have been written. Reader, search for it 
yourself, and, when found, publish it to the world, for 
the world is suffering for the want of truth. And 
though my conclusions be false, if I have been the 
means of revealing the truth, I shall not have written 
in vain. 



P^RT II. 



AN EXAMINATION OF THE DECLARATION 
OF INDEPENDENCE. 

It is with painful feelings I now call your attention 
to the famous document which sets forth the political 
creed of the United States. More than once my pen 
has refused to set about this work, but I now ask : Who 
wrote the original Declaration of Independence? I 
answer boldly, Thomas Paine. To prove this, my 
method is the same as with Junius, and the prejudices 
of the united world shall not intimidate me. 

It is not my purpose to revive the old and long-for- 
gotten controversy about the authorship of this docu- 
ment. Enough to say, volumes have been written to 
prove that it was not Jefferson's. But the method and 
object of a negative criticism I scorn. If it can not 
be shown to be some other man's, then let the claim- 
ant wear his honors; he certainly did not come by them 
meanly or dishonorably; they were forced upon him. 

My evidence will be such as to exclude the possi- 
bility of even literary theft in Jefferson, and that it is, as 
a whole, the work of the author of Common Sense, 
and can not possibly be the work of any body else. 
This is a bold assertion, and a little out of my turn, 

(201)* 



202 DECLARATION OF 

but my object is to raise the strongest doubt of the truth 
of what I assert in the mind of my reader, so as to en- 
list his attention, and hold me to the proof. 

The method of my argument is as follows : 

First, to show wherein this document is exactly like 
Mr. Paine; and, 

Secondly, wherein it is entirely unlike Mr. Jeffer- 
son. 

The points wherein they would agree are necessarily 
thrown out, and count nothing on either side. For ex- 
ample, the principles therein contained may be com- 
mon to both, and can have no weight in an argu- 
ment. It is said, in defense of this paper being Mr. 
Jefferson^s, that the " Summary View ^^ of his sub- 
mitted to, but not passed by the Virginia Delegate 
Convention in 1774, contained the "germs'' of the 
Declaration. This I do not admit, but if it did, it 
would prove nothing, for so did the writings of John 
Adams, and Benjamin Franklin, and Samuel Adams, 
and especially of James Otis. A thousand men in 
America had, perhaps, expressed the cardinal doctrine 
of equal rights, and that the British Parliament had 
usurped them. There is nothing peculiar nor indi- 
vidual in this; but when we find one man only who 
makes a specialty of the Declaration, it attracts atten- 
tion, and must have great weight when supported by a 
multitude of other special facts, all pointing in the 
same direction. I, therefore, go to show : 

First, Common Sense was written by Mr. Paine for the 
sole purpose of declaring independence, and, with this 
docuQient in view. I have heretofore reviewed Com- 
mon Sense, beginning on page 156 of this book. If it 



INDEPENDENCE. 203 

were practicable for the reader to read the whole of 
Common Sense at this time, it would render my labor 
much less ; but as this may not be the case, I will now give 
the whole of the third division of that paper, being : 



AMERICAN AFFAIRS. 

"In the following pages I offer nothing more than 
simple facts, plain arguments, and common sense; and 
have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, 
than that he will divest himself of prejudice and pre- 
possession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to de- 
termine for themselves; that he will put on, or rather 
that he will not put off the true character of a man, 
and generously enlarge his views beyond the present 
day. 

''Volumes have been written on the subject of the 
struggle between England and America. Men of all 
ranks have embarked in the controversy from differ- 
ent motives, and with various designs ; but all have been 
ineffectual, and the period of debate is closed. Arms, as 
the last resource, must decide the contest; the appeal 
was the choice of the king, and the continent hath ac- 
cepted the challenge. 

"It has been reported of the late Mr. Pelham (who, 
though an able minister, was not without his faults), 
that on his being attacked in the House of Commons, on 
the score, that his measures were only of a temporary 
kind, replied '* they will last my time." Should a thought 
so fatal and unmanly possess the colonies in the present 
contest, the name of ancestors will be remembered by 
future generations with detestation. 

" The sun never shone on a cause of greater worth. 
^Tis not the affair of a city, a county, a province, or a 
kingdom, but of a continent — of at least one-eighth 
part of the habitable globe. ^Tis not the concern of a 



204 ' DECLARATION OF 

day, a year, or an age ; posterity are virtually involved 
in the contest, and they will be more or less affected even 
to the end of time, by the proceedings now. Now is 
the seed-time of continental union, faith, and honor. 
The least fracture now will be like a name engraved 
with the point of a pin on the tender rind of a young 
oak ; the wound will enlarge with the tree, and pos- 
terity read it in full grown characters. 

^' JBy referring the matter from argument to arms, a 
new era for politics is struck ; a new method of think- 
ing hath arisen. All plans, proposals, etc., prior to the 
nineteenth of April, i. e., to the commencement of hos- 
tilities, are like the almanacs of last year ; which^ though 
proper then, are superseded and useless now. What- 
ever was advanced by the advocates on either side of 
the question then terminated in one and the same point, 
viz., a union with Great Britain. The only difference 
between the parties was the method of effecting it ; the 
one proposing force, the other friendship; but it hath 
so far happened that the first has failed, and the second 
has withdrawn her influence. 

" As much hath been said of the advantages of recon- 
ciliation, which, like an agreeable dream, hath passed 
away and left us as we were, it is but right that we 
should examine the contrary side of the argument, and 
inquire into some of the many material injuries which 
these colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being 
connected with and dependent on Great Britain. To 
examine that connection and dependence, on the prin- 
ciples of nature and common sense, to see what we have 
to trust to, if separated, and what we are to expect, if 
dependent. 

" I have heard it asserted by some, that as America 
has flourished under her former connection with Great 
Britain, the same connection is necessary toward her 
future happiness, and will always have the same effect. 
Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argu- 
ment. We may as well assert that because a child has 



INDEPENDENCE, 205 

thrived upon milk, that it is never to have meat, or 
that the first twenty years of our lives is to become a 
precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admit- 
ting more than is true, for I answer roundly, that 
America would have flourished as much, and probably 
much more, had no European power had any thing to 
do with her. The articles of commerce by which she 
has enriched herself, are the necessaries of life, and will 
always have a market while eating is the custom of 
Europe. 

'' But she has protected us, say some. That she hath 
engrossed us is true, and defended the continent at our 
expense, as well as her own, is admitted, and she would 
have defended Turkey from the sanae motives, viz.) 
for the sake of trade and dominion. 

'^ Alas ! we have been long led away by ancient 
prejudices, and made large sacrifices to superstition. 
We have boayted the protection of Great Britain, with- 
out considering that her motive was interest, not attach- 
ment; and that she did not protect us from our enemies 
on our account, but from her enemies on her own account, 
from those who had no quarrel with us on any other 
account, and who will always be our enemies -on the 
same account. Let Britain waive her pretensions to 
the continent, or the continent throw off the depend- 
ence, and we should be at peace with France and Spain, 
were they at war with Britain. The miseries of Hano- 
ver, last war, ought to warn us against connections. 

'^ It hath lately been asserted in Parliament that the 
colonies have no relation to each other, but through the 
parent country, i. e., that Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, 
and so on for the rest, are sister colonies by the way of 
England. This is certainly a very roundabout way of 
proving relationship, but it is the nearest and only true 
way of proving enemyship, if I may so call it. France 
and Spain never were, nor perhaps ever will be, our 
enemies as Americans, but as our being the subjects of 
Great Britain, 



206 DECLARATION OF 

'^ But Britain is the parent country^ say some. Then 
the more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do 
not devour their young, nor savages make war upon 
their families; wherefore, the assertion, if true, turns to 
her reproach. But it happens not to be true, or only 
partly so; and the phrase parent, or mother . country 
hath been jesuitically adopted by the king and his par- 
asites, with a low, papistical design of gaining an unfair 
bias on the credulous weakness of our minds. Europe, 
and not England, is the parent country of America. 
This new world hath been the asylum for the perse- 
cuted lovers of civil and religious liberty from every 
part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the 
tender embraces of the mother, but from the cruelty of 
the monster ; and it is so far true of England, that the 
same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from 
home pursues their descendants still. 

" In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget 
the narrow limits of three hundred and sixty miles — 
the extent of England — and carry our friendship on a 
larger scale. AVe claim brotherhood with every Eu- 
ropean Christian, and triumph in the generosity of the 
sentiment. 

" It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations 
we surmont local prejudices, as we enlarge our ac- 
quaintance with the world. A man born in any town 
in England divided into parishes, will naturally associ- 
ate most with his fellow-parishioners — because their in- 
terests, in many cases, will be common — and distinguish 
him by the name of neighbor ; if he meet him but a 
few miles from home, he drops the narrow idea of a 
street, and salutes him by the name of townsman; if he 
travel out of the county, and meets him in any other, 
he forgets the minor division of street and town, and 
calls him countryman — i. e., countyman; but if, in their 
foreign excursions, they should associate in France, or 
any other part of Europe, their local remembrance 
would be enlarged into that of JEnglishmen. And, by 



INDEPENDENCE. 207 

a iiist parity of reasoning, all Earopeang meeting in 
Americi, or any other qnarter of the globe, are eountry- 
ten; for England, Holland, Germany, or bweden, 
wh"; compare"! with the whole, stand m the same 
Dlaces on tlie larger scale which the divisions of street, 
Tw" and county do on the smaller one-dist.ncUons 
too limited for continental minds. Not one-third of 
the inhabitants, even of this province, are of English 
descent. Wherefore, I reprobate the phrase of parent, 
or mother country, applied to England only, as bemg 
false, selfish, narrow, and ungenerous 

" But admitting that we were all of English descent, 
what does it amount to? Nothing. Britain, being 
now an open enemy, extinguishes every other name and 
tHle • and to say that reconciliation is our duty, is tiuly 
farcical The first King of England, of the present 
line— William the Conqueror— was a Frenchman, and 
half the peers of England are descendants from the 
same country; wherefore, by the same method of reason- 
ing, England ought to be governed by i ranee. 

'•Much hath been said of the united strength of 
Britain and the colonies— that, in conjunction, they 
mio-ht bid defiance to the world. But this is mere pre- 
sumption ; the fate of war is uncertain, neither do the 
expressions mean anything; for this continent would 
never suffer itself to be drained of inhabitants to sup- 
port the British arms in either Asia, Africa, or Eu- 

™ "'^Besides, what have we to do with setting the world 
at defiance ? Our plan is commerce, and that well a - 
tended to will secure us the peace and friendship of all 
Europe because it is the interest of all Europe to have 
Amer^lck a free port. Her trade will always be a pro- 
tection, and her barrenness of gold and silver secure her 

"""^I challenge the warmest advocate for reconciliation 
to show a single advantage that this continent can reap 
by being connected with Great Britain. I repeat tlie 



208 DECLARATION OF 

challenge ; not a single advantage is derived. Our corn 
will fetch its price in any market in Europe, and our 
imported goods must be paid for, buy them where we 
will. 

^' But the injuries and disadvantages which we sus- 
tain by that connection are without number; and our 
duty to mankind at large, as well as to ourselves, in- 
structs us to renounce the alliance, because any submis- 
sion to, or dependance on, Great Britain, tends directly 
to involve this continent in European wars and quar- 
rels, and sets us at variance with nations, who would 
otherwise seek our friendship, and against whom we 
have neither anger nor complaint. As Europe is our 
market for trade, we ought to form no partial con- 
nection with any part of it. It is the true interest of 
America to steer clear of European contentions, which 
she never can do; while, by her dependence on Britain, 
she is made the make- weight in the scale of British 
2)olitics. 

'^ Europe is too thickly planted with kingdoms to be 
long at peace ; and whenever a war breaks out between 
England and any foreign power, the trade of America 
goes to ruin, because of her connection with Britain. 
The next war may not turn out like the last, and, 
should it not, the advocates for reconciliation now will 
be wishing for separation then, because neutrality, in 
that case, would be a safer convoy than a man-of-war. 
Every thing that is right or natural pleads for separa- 
tion. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of Na- 
ture, cries, '^Tis time to part / ' Even the distance at 
which the Almighty hath placed England and America, 
is a strong and natural proof that the authority of the 
one over the other was never the design of Heaven. 
The time, likewise, at which the continent was discov- 
ered, adds weight to the argument, and the manner in 
which it was peopled increases the force of it. The 
reformation was preceded by the discovery of America, 
as if the Almighty graciously meant to open a sanctu- 



INDEPENDENCE. 209 

ary to tlie persecuted in future years, when home should 
afford neither friendship nor safety. 

" The authority of Great Britain over this continent 
is a form of government which, sooner or later, must 
have an end ; and a serious mind can draw no true 
pleasure by looking forward, under the painful and 
positive conviction that Avhat he calls Hhe present con- 
stitution/ is merely temporary. As parents, we can 
have no joy, knowing that this government is not suf- 
ficiently lasting to insure any thing which we may be- 
queath to posterity; and by a plain method of argument, 
as Ave are running the next generation into debt, we 
ought to do the work of it — otherwise Ave use them 
meanly and pitifully. In order to discover the line of 
our duty rightly, Ave should take our children in our 
hand, and fix our station a few years further into life. 
That eminence will present a prospect, Avhich a few pres- 
ent fears and prejudices conceal from our sight. 

" Though I would carefully avoid giving unnecessary 
offense, yet I am inclined to believe that all those who 
espouse the doctrine of reconciliation may be included 
Avithin the following descriptions : 

^' Interested men, Avho are not to be trusted ; Aveak 
men, Avho can not see ; prejudiced men, who will not 
see ; and a certain set of moderate men, Avho think bet- 
ter of the European Avorld than it deserves; and this 
last class, by an ill-judged deliberation, will be the 
cause of more calamities to this continent than all the 
other three. 

^' It is the good fortune of many to live distant from 
the scene of sorrow. The evil is not sufficiently brought 
to their doors to make them feel the precariousness with 
which all American property is possessed. But let our 
imaginations transport us a few moments to Boston; 
that seat of Avretchedness Avill teach us wisdom, and in- 
struct us forever to renounce a power in Avhom we can 
have no trust. The inhabitants of that unfortunate 
city, who, but a few months ago, were in ease and af- 



210 DECLARATION OF 

fluence^ have now no other alternative than to stay and 
starve, or turn out to beg — endangered by the fire of 
their friends if they continue within the city, and plun- 
dered by the soldiery if they leave it. In their present 
situation they are prisoners without the hope of re- 
demption, and in a general attack for their relief, they 
would be exposed to the fury of both armies. 

" Men of passive tempers look somewhat lightly over 
the offenses of Britain, and, still hoping for the best, 
are apt to call out, ' Come, come; ive shall he friends 
again for all this.'' But examine the passions and feel- 
ings of mankind, bring the doctrine of reconciliation to 
the touchstone of nature, and then tell me whether you 
can hereafter love, honor, and faithfully serve the 
power that hath carried fire and sword into your land? 
If you can not do all these, then you are only deceiving 
yourselves, and, by your delay, bringing ruin upon your 
posterity. Your future connection with Britain, whom 
you can neither love nor honor, will be forced and un- 
natural, and, being formed only on the plan of present 
convenience, will, in a little time, fall into a relapse 
more wretched than the first. But if you say you can 
still pass the violations over, then I ask, hath your 
house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed 
before your face? Are your wife and cliildren desti- 
tute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you 
lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the 
ruined and Avretched survivor ? If you have not, then 
are you not a judge of those who have. But if you 
have, and can still shake hands with the murderers, 
then are you unworthy the name of husband, father, 
friend, or lover; and, whatever may be your rank or 
title in life, you have the heart of a coward and the 
spirit of a sycopliant. 

" This is not inflaming or exaggerating matters, but 
trying them by those feelings and affections which 
nature justifies, and without which we should be inca- 
pable of discharging the social duties of life or enjoying 



INDEPENDENCE. 211' 

the felicities of it. I mean not to exliibit horror for the 
purpos'e of provoking revenge^ but to awaken us from 
fatal and unmanly slumbers, that we may pursue de- 
term inately some fixed object. It is not in the power 
of Britain or of Europe to conquer America, if she does 
not conquer herself by delay and timidity. The present 
winter is worth an age if rightly employed ; but if lost 
or'' neglected, the whole continent will partake of the 
misfortune ; and there is no punisliment which that man 
will not deserve, be he who, or what, or where he will, 
that may be the means of sacrificing a season so pre- 
cious and useful. 

'^ It is repugnant to reason and the universal order 
of things, to all examples from former ages, to suppose 
that this continent can longer remain subject to any ex- 
ternal power. The most sanguine in Britain do not 
think so. The utmost stretch of human wisdom can 
not, at this time, compass a plan short of separation, 
which can promise the continent even a year's security. 
Reconciliation is iioiv a fallacious dream. Nature hath 
deserted the connection, and art can not supply her place. 
For, as Milton wisely expresses, ^ Never can true recon- 
cilement grow where wounds of deadly hate have 
pierced so deep.' 

^' Every quiet method for peace hath been ineffectual. 
Our prayers have been rejected with disdain; and only 
tended to convince us that nothing flatters vanity or 
confirms obstinacy in kings more than repeated petition- 
ing — nothing hath contributed more than this very 
measure to make the kings of Europe absolute. Witness 
Denmark and Sweden. Wherefore, since nothing but 
blows will do, for God's sake let us come to a final sep- 
aration, and not leave the next generation to be cutting 
throats under the violated, unmeaning names of parent 
and child. 

" To say they will never attempt it again is idle and 
visionary. We thought so at the repeal of the stamp 
act; yet a year or two undeceived us. As well may 
14 



212 DECLARATION OF 

we suppose that nations, which have been once defeated, 
will never renew tlie quarrel. 

"As to government matters, it is not in the power of 
Britain to do this continent justice. The business of it 
will soon be too weighty and intricate to be managed 
with any tolerable degree of convenience by a power so 
distant from us and so very ignorant of us; for if they 
can not conquer us they can not govern us. To be al- 
ways running three or four thousand miles with a tale 
or a petition, waiting four or five months for an answer, 
which, when obtained, requires five or six more to ex- 
plain it in, will in a few years be looked upon as folly 
and childishness. There was a time when it was 
proper, and there is a proper time for it to cease. 

'' Small islands, not capable of protecting themselves, 
are the proper objects for kingdoms to take under their 
care; but there is something absurd in supposing a con- 
tinent to be perpetually governed by an island. Tn no 
instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its 
primary planet; and as England and America, with 
respect to each other, reverses the common order of 
nature, it is evident that they belong to different sys- 
tems: England to Europe — America to itself 

" I am not induced by motives of pride, party, or 
resentment to espouse the doctrine of separation and in- 
dependence. I am clearly, positively, and conscientiously 
persuaded that it is the true interest of this continent 
to be so ; that every thing short of that is mere patch- 
work; that it can afford no lasting felicity; that it is 
leaving the sword to our children and shrinking back 
at a time when, going a little further, would have 
rendered this continent the glory of the earth. 

'^As Britain hath not manifested the least inclination 
toward a compromise, we may be assured that no terms 
can be obtained worthy the acceptance of the continent, 
or any ways equal to the expense of blood and treasure 
we have been already put to. 

"The object contended for ought always to bea^ 



INDEPENDENCE. 213 

some just proportion to the expense. The removal of 
!N'orth, or the whole detestable junto, is a matter un- 
worthy the millions we have expended. A temporary 
stoppage of trade was an inconvenience which would 
have sufficiently balanced the repeal of all the acts com- 
plained of, had such repeals been obtained ; but if the 
whole continent must take up arms, if every man must 
be a soldier, it is scarcely worth our while to fight against 
a contemptible ministry only. Dearly, dearly do we 
pay for the repeal of the acts if that is all we fight for; 
for, in a just estimation, it is as great a folly to pay a 
Bunker-hill price for law as for land. I have always 
considered the independency of this continent as an 
event which sooner or later must take place, and, from 
the late rapid ])rogress of the continent to maturity, the 
event can not be far off. Wherefore, on the breaking 
out of hostilities, it was not worth the while to have 
disputed a matter which time would have finally re- 
dressed, unless we meant to be in earnest;, otherwise, it 
is like wasting an estate on a suit at law to regulate the 
trespasses of a tenant whose lease is just expiring. No 
man was a warmer wisher for a reconciliation than my- 
self before the fatal nineteenth of April, 1775,* but the 
moment the event of that day was made known, I re- 
jected the hardened, sullen-tempered Pharaoh of Eng- 
land forever ; and disdain the wretch that, with the 
pretended title o^ father of his people, can unfeelingly 
hear of their slaughter and composedly sleep with their 
blood upon his soul. 

" But admitting that matters were now made up, 
what would be the event? I answer, the ruin of the 
continent. And that for several reasons. 

" 1st. The powers of governing still remaining in 
the hands of the king, he will have a negative over the 
whole legislation of this continent. And as he hath 
shown himself such an inveterate enemy to liberty, and 
discovered such a thirst for arbitrary power, is he, or 

^Massacre at Lexington. 



214 DECLARATION OF 

is he not, a proper person to say to these colonies, 
' You shall make no laivs but what I please f ^ And is 
there any inhabitant of America so ignorant as not to 
know that, according to what is called the present con- 
stitution, this continent can make no laws but what the 
king gives leave to? and is there any man so unwise as 
not to see that (considering what has happened) he will 
suffer no law to be made here but such as suits his pur- 
pose? We may be as effectually enslaved by the want 
of laws in America as by submitting to laws made for 
us in England. After matters are made np (as it is 
called), can there be any doubt but the whole power of 
the crown will be exerted to keep this continent as low 
and humble as possible? Instead of going forward, 
we shall go backward, or be perpetually quarreling or 
ridiculously petitioning. We are already greater than 
the king wishes us to be, and will he not hereafter en- 
deavor to make us less ? To bring the matter to one 
point, Is the. power who is jealous of our prosperity a 
proper power to govern us ? Whoever says No to this 
question is an independent^ for independency means no 
more than this, whether we shall make our own laws, 
or whether the king, the greatest enemy which this con- 
tinent hath or can have, shall tell us, ^ There shall be 
no laws but such as I like.^ 

" But the king, you will say, has a negative in Eng- 
land ; the people there can make no laws without his 
consent. In point of right and good order, it is some- 
thing very ridiculous that a youth of twenty-one (which 
hath often happened) shall say to several millions of 
people, older and wiser than himself, I forbid this or 
that act of yours to be law. But in this place I decline 
this sort of reply, though I will never cease to expose 
the absurdity of it; and only answer that, England be- 
ing the king's residence and America not makes quite 
another case. The king's negative here is ten times 
more dangerous and fatal than it can be in England; 
for there he will scarcely refuse his consent to a bill for 



INDEPENDENOJS, ■ 215 

putting England into as strong a state of defense as pos- 
sible, and in America he would never suffer such a bill 
to be passed. 

"America is only a secondary object in the system 
of British politics — England consults the good of this 
country no further than it answers her oivn purpose. 
Wherefore, her own interest leads her to suppress the 
growth of ours in every case which doth not promote 
her advantage, or in the least interferes with it. A 
pretty state we should soon be in under such a second- 
hand government, considering what has happened! 
Men do not change from enemies to friends by tlie al- 
teration of a name; and in order to show that reconcil- 
iation now is a dangerous doctrine, I affirm that it would 
be policy in the king at this time to repeal the acts, for 
the sake of reinstating himself in the government of the 
provinces; in order that he may accomplish by craft and 
subtlety, in the long run, what he can not do by force 
in the short one. Reconciliation and ruin are nearly 
related. 

"2dly. That as even the best terms which we can 
expect to obtain can amount to no more than a tempo- 
rary expedient, or a kind of government by guardian- 
ship, which can last no longer than till the colonies come 
of age, so the general face and state of things^ in the 
interim, will be unsettled and unpromising. Emigrants 
of property will not choose to come to a country whose 
form of government hangs but by a thread, and which 
is every day tottering on the brink of commotion and 
disturbance; and numbers of the present inhabitants 
would lay hold of the interval to dispose of their effects 
and quit the continent. 

"But the most powerful of all arguments is, that 
nothing but independence, i. e., a continental form of gov- 
ernment, can keep the peace of the continent and preserve 
it inviolate from civil wars. I dread the event of a 
reconciliation with Britain now, as it is more than prob- 
able that it will be followed by a revolt somewhere or 



216 DECLARATION OF 

other, the consequences of which may be far more fatal 
than all the malice of Britain. 

"Thousands are already ruined by British barbarity. 
(Thousands more will probably suifer the same fate.) 
Those men have other feelings than us who have noth- 
ing suffered. All they now possevss is liberty ; what 
they before enjoyed is sacrificed to its service, and, hav- 
ing nothing more to lose, they disdain submission. 
Besides, the general temper of the colonies toward a Brit- 
ish government will be like that of a youth who is nearly 
out of his time — they will care very little about her. 
And a government which can not preserve the peace is 
no government at all, and in that case we pay our money 
for nothing ; and pray what is it that Britain can do, 
whose power will be wholly on paper, should a civil tu- 
mult break out the very day after reconciliation? I 
have heard some men say, many of whom I believe spoke 
without thinking, that they dreaded an independence, 
fearing that it would produce civil wars. It is but 
seldom that our first thoughts are truly correct, and 
that is the case here ; for there is ten times more to 
dread from a patched up connection than from inde- 
pendence. I make the sufferer's case my own, and I 
protest that, were I driven from house and home, my 
property destroyed, and my circumstances ruined, that 
as a man sensible of injuries, I could never relish the 
doctrine of reconciliation or consider myself bound 
thereby. 

" The colonies have manifested such a spirit of good 
order and obedience to continental government, as is 
sufficient to make every reasonable person easy and 
happy on that head. No man can assign the least pre- 
tense for his fears on any other grounds than such as are 
truly childish and ridiculous, viz.: that one colony wdll 
be striving for superiority over another. 

"Where there are no distinctions there can be no su- 
periority; perfect equality affords no temptation. The 
republics of Europe are all (and we may say always) in 



INDEPENDENCE. 217 

peace. Holland and Switzerland are without wars, 
foreign or domestic. Monarchical governments, it is 
true, are never long at rest; the crown itself is a temp- 
tation to enterprising ruffians at home, and that degree 
of pride and insolence, ever attendant on regal author- 
ity, swells into a rupture with foreign powers in in- 
stances where a republican government, by being formed 
on more natural principles, would negotiate the mistake. 

" If there is any true cause of fear respecting inde- 
pendence, it is because no plan is yet laid down. Men 
do not see their way out. Wherefore, as an opening 
into that business, I offer the following hints, at the 
same time modestly affirming that I have no other opin- 
ion of them myself than that they may be the means of 
giving rise to something better. Could the straggling 
thoughts of individuals be collected, they would fre- 
quently form materials for wise and able men to improve 
into useful matter : 

^' Let the assemblies be annual, with a president only. 
The representation more equal. Their business wholly 
domestic, and subject to the authority of a continental 
congress. 

" Let each colony be divided into six, eight, or ten 
convenient districts, each district to send a proper num- 
ber of delegates to congress, so that each colony send at 
least thirty. The whole number in congress will be at 
least three hundred and ninety. Each congress to sit 

, and to choose a president by the following 

method : When the delegates are met, let a colony be 
taken from the whole thirteen colonies by lot, after 
which let the congress choose (by ballot) a presi- 
dent from out of the delegates of that province. In 
the next congress, let a colony be taken by lot from 
twelve only, omitting that colony from which the presi- 
dent was taken in the former congress, and so proceed- 
ing on till the whole thirteen shall have had their 
proper rotation. And, in order that nothing may pass 
into a law but what is satisfactorily just, not less than 



218 DECLARATION OF 

three-fifths of the congress to be called a majority. He 
that will promote discord, under a government so equally- 
formed as this, would have joined Lucifer in his revolt. 

"But, as there is a peculiar delicacy from whom, or 
in what manner, this business must first arise, and as it 
seems most agreeable and consistent that it sliould come 
from some intermediate body between the governed and 
the governors — ^that is, between the congress and the 
people — let a Continental Conference be held, in the fol- 
lowing manner, and for the following purpose: 

"A committee of twenty-six members of congress, 
viz.: two for each colony ; two members from each 
house of assembly, or provincial convention, and five 
representatives of the people at large, to be chosen in 
the capital city or town of each province, for and in be- 
half of the whole province, by as many qualified voters 
as shall think proper to attend from all parts of the 
province for that })urpose; or, if more convenient, the 
representatives may be chosen in two or three of the 
most populous parts thereof. In this conference, thus 
assembled, will be united the two grand ])rinciples of 
business — hioiuledge and power. The members of con- 
gress, assemblies, or conventions, by having had expe- 
rience in national concerns, will be able and useful 
counselors, and the whole, being empowered by the 
people, will have a truly legal authority. 

" The conferring members being met, let their busi- 
ness be to frame a Continental Chm^ter, or Charter of 
the United Colonies (answering to wdiat is called the 
Magna Charta of England) ; fixing the number and 
manner of choosing members of congress and members 
of assembly, with their date of sitting, and drawing the 
line of business and jurisdiction between them (ahvays 
remembering that our strength is continental, not pro- 
vincial) ; securing freedom and property to all men, 
and, above all things, the free exercise of religion, ac- 
cording to the dictates of conscience; with such other 
matter as it is necessary for a charter to contain. Im- 



INDEPjENDENGE. 



219 



mediately after which ^ the said conference to dissolve, 
and the bodies which shall be chosen conformable to the 
said charter to be the legislators and governors of this 
continent for the time being : whose peace and happi- 
-ness may God preserve. Amen. 

'' Should any body of men be hereafter delegated for 
this or some similar purpose, I offer them the following 
extract from that wise observer on governments, Drago- 
nettij ^The science/ says he, 'of the politician con- 
sists in fixing the true point of happiness and freedom. 
Those men would deserve the gratitude of ages who 
should discover a mode of government that contained 
the greatest sum of of individual happiness, with the 
least national expense.^ 

" But where, say some, is the king of America ? I ^11 
tell you, friend : he reigns above, and doth not make 
havoc of mankind like the royal brute of Britain. Yet, 
that we may not appear to be defective even in earthly 
honors, let a day be solemnly set apart for proclaiming 
the charter; let it be brought forth placed on the divine 
law, the Word of God ; let a crown be placed thereon, 
by which the world may know that, so far as we ap- 
prove of monarchy, that in America the law is king. 
For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in 
free countries the law ought to be king; and there 
ought to be no other. But, lest any ill use should af- 
terward arise, let the crown, at the conclusion of the 
ceremony, be demolished, and scattered among the peo- 
ple, whose right it is. 

"A government, of our own is our natural right; and 
when a man seriously reflects on the precariousness of 
human affiiirs, he will become convinced that it is infi- 
nitely wiser and safer to form a constitution of our own 
in a cool, deliberate manner, while we have it in our 
power, than to trust such an interesting event to time 
and chance. ^ If we omit it now, some Massanello may 
hereafter arise, who, laying hold of popular disqui- 
etudes, may collect together the desperate and the dis- 



220 DECLARATION OF 

contented, and, by assuming to themselves the powers 
of govei-nment, finally sweep away the liberties of the 
continent like a deluge. Should the government of 
America return again into the hands of Britain, the tot- 
tering situation of things will be a temptation for some 
desperate adventurer to try his fortune; and, in such a 
case, what relief can Britain give? Ere she could hear 
the news the fatal business might be done, and ourselves 
suffering, like the wretched Britons, under the oppres- 
sion of tlie Conqueror. Ye that oppose independence 
now, ye know not what ye do : ye are opening a door 
to eternal tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of gov- 
ernment. There are thousands, and tens of thousands, 
who would think it glorious to expel from the continent 
that barbarous and hellish power, which hath stirred 
up the Indians and negroes to destroy us. The cruelty 
hath a double guilt — it is dealing brutally by us, and 
treacherously by them. 

"To talk of friendship with those in whom our rea- 
son forbids us tp have faith, and our affections, wounded 
through a thousand pores, instruct us to detest, is mad- 
ness and folly. Every day wears out the little remains 
of kindred between us and them ; and can there be any 
reason to ho})e that, as the relationsliip expires, the af- 
fection will increase, or that we shall agree better when 
we have ten times more and gi'eater concerns to quarrel 
over than ever? 

'^ Ye that tell us of harmony and reconciliation, can 
ye restore to us the time that is past? Can ye give to 
prostitution its former innocence? Neither can ye rec- 
oncile Britain and America. The last cord now is 
broken; the people of England are presenting addresses 
against us. There are injuries which nature can not 
forgive — she would cease to be nature if she did. As 
well can the lover forgive the ravisher of his mistress, 
as the continent forgive the murders of Britain. The 
Almighty hath implanted in us these unextinguishable 
feelings for good and wise purposes. They are the guard- 



INDEPENDENCE. 221 

ians of his image in our hearts, and distinguish us 
from the herd of common animals. The social compact 
would dissolve, and justice be extirpated from the earth, 
or have only a casual existence, were we callous to the 
touches of affection. The robber and the murderer 
would often escape unpunished, did not the injuries 
which our tempers sustain provoke us into justice. 

'^Oh, ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, 
not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth ! Ev- 
ery spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. 
Freedom hath been haunted round the globe. Asia 
and Africa have long expelled her. Europe regards 
her like a stranger, and England hath given her warn- 
ing to depart. Oh ! receive the fugitive, and prepare 
in time an asylum for mankind.'^ 

ORIGIXAL DECLARATION. * 

I now place before the reader the original draft of 
the Declaration of Independence, as it was presented by 
JefPerson. I have placed in brackets the matter struck 
out or amended by Congress. 

It will be remembered that Mr. Jefferson was chair- 
man of the committee to draft the document; Benja- 
min Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and R. R. 
Livingston, being the other four of the committee; that 
they changed but a word or two in it; and that John 
Adams became its champion in Congress, and fought 
manfully for every word of it. Jefferson said nothing, 
as he scarcely ever spoke in public: 

1. '^When in the course of human events it becomes 
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds 
which have connected them with another, and to as- 
sume among the powers of the earth the separate and 
equal station to which the laws of nature and of na- 

*See Note A, page 277. 



222 DECLARATION OF 

tare's God entitle them, a decent respect for the opin- 
ions of mankind requires that they should declare the 
causes which impel them to the separation. 

2. ^' We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all 
men are created equal ; that they are endowed by their 
Creator with [inherent and] inalienable rights ; that 
among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi- 
ness; that to secure these rights, governments are in- 
stituted among men, deriving their just powers from 
tlie consent of the governed; that whenever any form 
of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is 
the right of the people to alter and abolish it, and to 
institute new government, laying its foundations on such 
principles, and organizing its powers in such form, 
as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety 
and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that gov- 
ernments long established should not be changed for 
light and transient causes; and accordingly all expe- 
rience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to 
suffer, while evils are sufPerable, than to right them- 
selves by abolishing the forms to which they are ac- 
customed. But when a long train of abuses and usur- 
pations, [begun at a distinguished period, and] pursuing 
invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce 
them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is 
their duty, to throw off such government, and to pro- 
vide new guards for their future security. Such has 
been the patient sufferings of these colonies ; and such 
is now the necessity which constrains them to [expunge] 
their former systems of government. The history of 
the present king of Great Britain, is a history of [un- 
remitting] injuries and usurpations, [among which ap- 
pears no solitary fact to contradict the uniform tenor of 
the rest, but all have] in direct object the establishment 
of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove 
this, let facts be submitted to a candid world, [for the 
truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied by false- 
hood.] 



INDEPENDENCE. 223 

3. "He has refused his assent to laws the most whole- 
some and necessary for the public good. 

4. "He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of 
immediate and pressing importance^ unless suspended 
in their operation till his assent should be obtained; 
and when so suspended^ he has utterly neglected to at- 
tend to them. 

5. "He has refused to pass other laws for the accom- 
modation of large districts of people, unless those peo- 
ple would relinquish the right of representation in the 
legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable 
to tyrants only. 

6. "He has called together legislative bodies at places 
unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository 
of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing 
them into compliance with his measures. 

7. "He has dissolved representative houses repeat- 
edly [and continually] for opposing, with manly firm- 
ness, his invasions on the rights of the people. 

8. "He has refused, for a long time after such disso- 
lutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby tJie legis- 
lative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned 
to the people at large for their exercise, the state re- 
maining, in the meantime, exposed to dangers of inva- 
sions from without and convulsions within. 

9. "He has endeavored to prevent the population of 
these states ; for that purpose obstructing the laws for 
naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to 
encourage their migrations hither, and raising the con- 
ditions of new appropriations of lands. 

10. "He has [suffered] the administration of justice 
[totally to cease in some of these states], refusing his 
assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. 

11. "He has made [our] judges dependent on his will 
alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and 
payment of their salaries. 

12. "He has erected a multitude of new offices [by 
a self-assumed power], and sent hither swarms of new 



224: DECLARATION OF 

officers to harass our people and eat out their sub- 
stance. 

13. " He has kept among us in times of peace 
standing armies [and ships of war] without the consent 
of our legiskitures. 

14. ''He has affected to render the military inde- 
pendent of and superior to the civil power. 

15. ''He has combined with others to subject us to a 
jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions^ and unac- 
knowledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts 
of pretended legislation for quartering large bodies of 
armed troops among us; for protecting by a mock trial 
from punishment, any murders which they should com- 
mit on the inhabitants of these states; for cutting off our 
trade with all ports of the world; for imposing taxes 
on us without our consent ; for depriving us of the 
benefits of trial by jury; for transporting us beyond 
seas to be tried for pretended offenses ; for abolishing 
the free system of English laws in a neighboring prov- 
ince, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and 
enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an 
example and fit instrument for introducing the same 
absolute rule in these [states] ; for taking away our 
charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and alter- 
ing, fundamentally, the forms of our governments; 
for suspending our own legislatures, and declaring 
themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all 
cases whatsoever. 

16. " He has abdicated government here [withdraw- 
ing his governors and declaring us out of his allegiance 
and protection]. 

17. " He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, 
burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our 
people. 

18. " He is at this time transporting large armies 
of foreign mercenaries, to complete the works of death, 
desolation, and tyranny already begun, with circum- 



INDEPENDENCE. 225 

stances of cruelty and perfidy, unworthy the head of a 
civilized nation. 

19. ^^ He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken 
captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their 
country, to become the executioners of their friends and 
brethren^ or to fall themselves by their hands. 

20. " He has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants 
of the frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose 
known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruc- 
tion of all ages, sexes, and conditions of [existence]. 

21. ['^ He has excited treasonable insurrection of our 
fellow-citizens, with the allurements of forfeiture and 
confiscation of our property.] 

22. [^' He has waged cruel war against human nature 
itself, violating its most sacred rights of life and lib- 
erty in the persons of a distant people who never 
offended him, captivating and carrying them into 
slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable 
death in their transportation thither. This piratical 
warfare, the opprobrium of INFIDEL powers, is the 
warfiire of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. 
Determined to keep open a market where MEN 
should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his nega- 
tive for suppressing every legislative attempt to pro- 
hibit or restrain this execrable commerce. And that 
this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of dis- 
tinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to 
rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of 
which he has deprived them, by murdering the people 
on whom he has obtruded them; thus paying off 
former crimes committed against the LIBERTIES of 
one people with crimes which he urges them to com- 
mit against the LIVES of another.] 

23. " In every stage of these o})pressions we have 
petitioned for redress in the most humble terms; our 
repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated 
injuries. 

24. "A prince whose character is thus marked by 



226 DECLARATION OF 

every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the 
ruler of a people [who mean to be free. Future ages 
will scarcely believe that the hardiness of one man ad- 
ventured, within the short compass of twelve years only, 
to lay a foundation so broad and so undisguised for 
tyranny over a peoj)le fostered and fixed in principles 
of freedom.] 

25. '^ Nor have we been w^anting in attention to our 
British brethren. We have warned them from time to 
time of attempts, by their legislature, to extend [a] ju- 
risdiction over [these, our States.] We have reminded 
them of the circumstances of our emigration and settle- 
ment here, [no one of which would warrant so strange 
a pretention. These were effected at the expense of our 
own blood and treasure, unassisted by the Avealth or 
strength of Great Britain; that in constituting, indeed, 
our several forms of government, we had adopted one 
common king, thereby laying a foundation for perpet- 
ual leao;ue and amitv with them ; but that submission 
to their Parliament was no part of our constitution, nor 
ever in idea, if history may be credited ; and] we ap- 
pealed to their native justice and magnanimity, [as well 
as to] the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these 
usurpations, which [were likely] to interrupt our con- 
nection and correspondence. They, too, have been 
deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity; [and 
when occasions have been given them, by the regular 
course of their laws, of removing from their councils 
the disturbers of our harmony, they have, by their free 
election, reestablished them in power. At this very 
time, too, they are permitting their chief magistrate to 
send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but 
Scotch and foreign mercenaries, to invade and destroy 
us. These facts have p'iven the last stab to ao;o- 
nizing affection, and manly spirit bids us renounce 
forever these unfeeling brethren. We must endeavor 
to forget our former love for them,] and hold them as 
we hold the rest of mankind — enemies in war, in peace 



INDEPENDENQE. 227 

friends. [\ye might have been a free and a great 
people together; but a communion of grandeur and of 
freedom, it seems, is below their dignity. Be it so, 
since they will have it. The road to happiness and 
to glory is open to us, too. We will tread it apart from 
them, and] acquiesce in the necessity which denounces 
our [eternal] separation. 

26. '' We, therefore, the representatives of the United 
States of America, in general Congress assembled, do, 
in the name and by the authority "of the good people 
of these [States, reject and renounce all allegiance and 
subjection to the King of Great Britain, and all others 
who may hereafter claim by, through, or under them ; 
we utterly dissolve all political connection which may 
heretofore have subsisted between us and the people or 
Parliament of Great Britain ; and, finally, we do assert 
and declare these colonies to be free and independent 
States;] and that, as free and independent States, they 
have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract 
alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts 
and things which independent States may of right do. 

'^ And for the support of this declaration, we mutu- 
ally pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and 
our sacred honor.'^ 

ANALYSIS. 

We have to do with the original draft, and to let 
the reader see the hand of a master, I will analyze it. 

" I love method,'' said Mr. Paine. The method of 
the piece stands as follows, and, for the sake of elucida- 
tion, I have numbered the paragraphs in the original ; 

I. Inteoduction, viz: — Paragraph 1. 
II. Bill of Rights — Paragraph 2. 
III. Indictment — under three general charges : Usur- 
patioUj Abdication, and War, as follows: 
15 



228 DECLARATION OF 



USUEPATION^. 



Par. 3, 4, 5 — Laws usurped, and hereunder: 

a. Negatived. 

h. Forbidden and neglected. 

c. Refused, unless rights are surrendered. 
Par. 6, 7, 8, 9 — Legislation usurped, and hereunder: 

a. Legislative bodies meet at the wrong place. 

h. Legislative bodies dissolved. 

c. Refused to have them elected. 

d. Obstructing legislation for naturalization. 

Par. 10, 11, 12 — Judiciary powers usurped, and here- 
under : 

a. Destroyed by his negative. 

h. Made the judges dependent on his will, 

c. And erected new offices by his own will. 
Par. 13, 14 — Military powers usurped, and hereunder: 

a. Established without consent of leg-islatures. 

h. Made superior to civil power. 
Par. 15 — Jurisdiction usurped, and hereunder: 

a. Troops, the quartering of. 

b. Trial, of a mock nature. 

c. Trade, the cutting off. 

d. Taxes, without consent. 

e. Trial, depriving of. 

/. Transportation, to be ♦ 

g. Tried, for pretended offenses. 
h. Laws, abolishing the English. 
i. Charters, the taking of. 
j. Laws, abolishing special ones. 
h Constitutions, altering form of. 
I. Legislatures, suspension of. 
m. Power, to legislate for us in all case^ ^-vhatsoever. 



INDEPENDENCE. 229 

ABDICATION. 

Par. 16 — Declaring us out of his allegiance and pro- 
tection. 

WAE. 

Par. 17 — Warfare begun, and hereunder: 
a. Seas plundered. 
h. Coasts ravaged. 

c. Towns burnt. 

d. Lives destroyed. 
Par. 18 — Invasion. 

Par. 19 — Pressing of seamen. 
Par. 20 — Indian massacres. 
Par. 21^Insurrection. 

Par. 22 — Waging war against human nature. 
lY. Peaceful Method of Redeess, viz: Peti- 
tioning — Paragraph 23. 
Y. Necessity of Separation — declared in Para- 
graphs 24, 25. 
YI. Powers of an Independent State De- 
clared to the World — in Paragraph 26. 

ARGUMENT. 

Let us now examine Articles III, lY, Y, and YI. 
As they form the piece proper, namely, the indictment 
and the declaration thereunder, let us compare them 
with reference to the following: 

In the conclusion of Common Sense Mr. Paine wrote : 
" Should a manifesto be published and dispatched to 
foreign courts setting forth — 

I. ^\ The miseries we have endured ; [This is Art. 
Ill of the Declaration.] 



230 DECLARATION OF 

II. " The peaceful methods which we have ineffect- 
ually used for redress ; [This is Art. IV of the Declara- 
tion.] 

III. "Declaring at the same time that, not being 
able any longer to live happily or safely under the 
cruel disposition of the British court, we had been 
driven to the necessity of breaking off all connection 
with her; [This is Art. Y of the Declaration.] 

lY. "At the same time assuring all courts of our 
peaceful disposition toward them, and of our desire of 
entering into trade with them." [This is Art. YI of 
the Declaration.] 

Here are, in their order, the directions for producing 
the four last articles of the famous document, and 
which constitute, as a special instrument, all there is 
of it. Did Mr. Jefferson study this production of 
Thomas Paine's so closely as to get the exact order, 
without transposing an article? A cursory reading 
would not do this, and if he did not study it for this 
purpose, then the same peculiar mind belonged to Jef- 
ferson that belonged to Thomas Paine ; and in writing 
the Declaration a greater special miracle was performed 
than any recorded of Jesus of Nazareth. 

In the above there is a striking coincidence of docu- 
mentary facts, in the same order, and it is safe to say 
there is not one man in a million who, in reading Com- 
mon Sense, would remember this order, unless he read 
it with such special purpose. But it is known Jeffer- 
son never consulted a book or paper upon the subject, 
nor for the purpose of producing it. Here is what 
Bancroft says, and I have found hira to be a truthful 
historian as to current facts touching on the subject : 



INDEP^NDENQE. 231 

" From the fullness of his own mind, without con- 
sulting one single book, Jefferson drafted the Declara- 
tion ; he submitted it separately to Franklin and John 
Adams, accepted from each of them one or two verbal 
unimportant corrections," etc. — Hist., vol. viii, p. 465. 

The above history is doubtless taken from the reply 
of Mr. Jefferson to attacks on the originality of the 
Declaration, which is as follows : " Pickering's observa- 
tions and Mr. Adams' in addition, ^ that it contained no 
new ideas ; that it is a common-place compilation ; its 
sentiments hackneyed in Congress for two years before, 
and its essence contained in Otis' pamphlet,' may all be 
true. Of that I am not to be the j udge. Kichard Henry 
Lee charged it as copied from Locke's Treatise on Gov- 
ernment. Otis' pamphlet I never saw ; and whether I 
had gathered my ideas from reading, I do not know. I 
know only that I turned to neither book nor pamphlet 
while writing it." — Works, vol. vii, p. 305. 

This was written when he was eighty years old. 

But it seems that Mr. Jefferson had never read the 
pamphlet. Common Sense, as the following gross error 
in regard to it will show. Speakuig of Mr. Paine, he 
says : " Indeed, his Common Sense was for awhile be- 
lieved to have been written by Dr. Franklin, and pub- 
lished under the borrowed name of Paine, who had 
come over with him from England." — Works, vol. vii., 
p. 198. 

In the above sentence there are two historic errors. 
First, Common Sense was not published under the name 
of Paine ; and, second, Mr. Paine did not come over 
with Franklin from England. He preceded Franklin 
six months. 



232 DECLARATION OF 

That Mr. Paine did not attach his name to the pam- 
phlet, Common Sense, there is abundance of evidence 
to prove. The author of a pamphlet, subscribed Ration- 
alis, in answer to Common Sense, says : " I know not 
the author, nor am I anxious to learn his name or char- 
acter, for the book, and not the writer of it, is to be the 
subject of my animadversions." 

But we have Mr. Paine's own testimony, in the sec- 
ond edition of Common Sense, direct to the point. In 
a postscript to the Introduction, he says: '^Who the 
author of this production is, is wholly unnecessary to 
the public, as the object for attention is the doctrine, not 
the man. Yet it may not be unnecessary to say that 
he is unconnected with any party, and under no sort of 
influence, public or private, but the influence of reason 
and principle." 

An examination of all the earliest editions which can 
be seen in the Congressional Library at Washington 
will satisfy any one on this subject. 

If Mr. Jefferson had read Common Sense before the 
writing of the Declaration, he would never have erred 
so in regard to this fact. This goes to show he had not 
even read it, much less studied it. How, then, was the 
exact order followed, in writing the Declaration, which 
Mr. Paine laid down in Common Sense? 

My first proposition, then, I have proven, namely: 
that Thomas Paine wrote a work fof the sole purpose of 
bringing about a separation and making a Declaration 
of Independence. I have proven, also, that he therein 
submitted the subject-matter in the 07'der in which it 
w^as afterwards put. This much on the positive side. 
On the negative side, I have shown that Mr. Jefferson 



INDEPENDENCE. 233 

did none of these things, for it was produced from '^ the 
fuUness of his own mind, without consulting one single 
book." 

But if Mr. Bancroft be a truthful historian, there is 
already great doubt thrown on Jefferson's authorship 
of it, and it would have been better to have made Jef- 
ferson a close student and thorough reader for this 
special purpose. This is the view, in fact, taken of the 
question of authorship in the New American Cyclopedia 
(article Thomas Jefferson), and I will give an extract 
therefrom, to show how historians differ. Speaking of 
the Declaration, the Cyclopedia says : " Two questions 
have, however, arisen as to its originality : the first, a 
general one upon the substance of the document; the 
second, in regard to its phraseology in connection with 
the alleged Mecklenburg declaration of May, 1775. 
It is more than probable that Jefferson made use of some 
of the ideas expressed in newspapers at the time, and 
that his study of the great English writers upon consti- 
tutional freedom was of service to him. But an impartial 
criticism will not base upon this fact a charge of want 
of originality. It should rather be regarded as the pe- 
culiar merit of the writer that he thus collected and em- 
bodied the conclusions upon t>;overnment of the leadino' 
thinkers of the age in Europe and America, rejecting 
what was false, and combining his material into a pro- 
duction of so much eloquence and dignity.'^ 

This does not sound much like Bancroft. The two 
historians have placed Mr. Jefferson in a sad dilemma. 
The one, to make him an original in the production of 
the Declaration, says he did not consult one single book, 
but produced it from the fullness of his own mind. 



234 DECLARATION OF 

The other^ to defend him from the charge of want of 
originality, says he made use of the newspapers, col- 
lected and embodied, etc. But the single fact which I 
have brought from the conclusion of Common Sense 
destroys the first hypothesis, and the last hypothesis, in 
being contradictory in itself destroys itself. How the 
reader will fathom this labyrinth of contradictions, and 
reconcile this conflict of historic opinion, is a question 
which does not trouble me, and I pass on to something 
more important. 

STYLE. 

The style of the Declaration of Independence is in 
every particular the style of Mr. Paine and Junius ; 
and it is in no particular the style of Thomas Jeifer- 
son. This I now proceed to prove. 

That equality in the members of the periods, which 
gives evenness and smbothness, and the alliteration 
which gives harmony in the sound, and which together 
render the writings of Mr. Paine so stately and met- 
rical, are qualities so prominent that no one can mistake 
the style. And what renders the argument in this re- 
gard so strong, is the entire absence of these qualities 
in Mr. Jefferson^s writings. In fact, if Mr. Jefferson 
drafted the Declaration of Independence, he never be- 
fore nor since wrote any thing like it, in the same style, 
order, or spirit; -or produced any thing which evinced 
genius, or the hand of a master in literature. What I 
have already said on style, in the former part of this 
work, will render this readily understood by the reader; 
but I will now make a few comparisons, and first with 
Junius, and then Paine and Jefferson. 



INDEPENDENCE. 235 

Junius wrote two declarations, or rather pieces, 
after the very same style and manner, namely, the first 
and the thirty-fifth Letters. They can be thrown into 
the same synoptical form in which I have put the Dec- 
laration. But to show the rythm, and alliteration, and 
peculiar style, I give the following : 

'^When in the course of human events it becomes 
necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds 
which have connected them with another, and to as- 
sume among the powers of the earth the separate and 
equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's 
God entitle them, a decent respect for the opinions of 
mankind requires that they should declare the causes 
which impel them to the separation. '^ — Declaration. 

" When the complaints of a brave and powerful peo- 
ple are observed to increase in proportion to the wrongs 
they have suifered ; when, instead of sinking into sub- 
mission, they are roused to resistance, the time will soon 
arrive at which every inferior consideration must yield 
to the security of the sovereign and to the general safety 
of the state. There is a moment of difficulty and dan- 
ger at which flattery and falsehood can no longer de- 
ceive, and simplicity itself can no longer be misled." — 
Junius. 

^^When the tumult of war shall cease, and the tem- 
pest of present passions be succeeded by calm reflection ; 
or when those who, surviving its fury, shall inherit 
from you a legacy of debts and misfortunes; when the 
yearly revenue shall scarcely be able to discharge the 
interest of the one, and no possible remedy be left for 
the other, ideas far diflerent from the present will arise 
and embitter the remembrance of former follies.^' 

The above three extracts are from the Declaration, 
Junius, and Crisis, viii. There is in them the same 
stately measure or tread; the same harmony of sounds; 



236 DECLARATION OF 

the same gravity of sentiment; the same clearness of dic- 
tion ; the same boldness of utterance ; the same beauty 
and vivacity; in short, the same spirit and the sanie 
hand. 

Now an extract from Jefferson will be in place, and 
I give it from one of his most impassioned pieces, the 
" Summary View.'^ I do this for two reasons : first, be- 
cause it is the only piece, up to the writing of the Dec- 
laration, which he ever produced worthy of note; and 
second, because it is his best. I give also the best of 
this piece, the exordium : 

'^Resolved, That it be an instruction to the said dep- 
uties, when assembled in General Congress, with the 
deputies from the other states of British America, to 
propose to the said Congress that an humble and duti- 
ful address be presented to his Majesty, begging leave 
to lay before him, as Chief Magistrate of the British 
empire, the united complaints of his Majesty^s subjects 
in America ; complaints which are excited by many un- 
warrantable encroachments and usurpations, attempted 
to be made by the legislature of one part of the empire 
upon the rights which God and the laws have, given 
equally and independently to all. To represent to his 
Majesty that these, his states, have often individually 
made humble application to his im})erial Throne to ob- 
tain through its intervention some redress of their in- 
jured rights, to none of which was ever even an answer 
condescended. Humbly to hope that this, their joint 
address, penned in the language of truth, and divested 
of those expressions of servility which would persuade 
his Majesty that we are asking favors, and not rights, 
shall obtain from his Majesty a respectful acceptance; 
and this his Majesty will think we have reason to ex- 
pect, when he reflects that he is no more than the chief 
officer of the people, appointed t>y the laws, and circum- 
scribed with definite powers to assist in working the 



INBEPENDENOE. 237 

great machine of government, erected for their use, and 
consequently subject to their superintendence, and in 
order that these our rights, as well as the invasions of 
them, may be laid more fully before his Majesty, to 
take a view of them from the origin and first settle- 
ment of these countries/' 

It will be observed in the above extract from Mr. 
Jefferson, that there is no proportion between the mem- 
bers of the sentences. We have them of all lengths, 
interlarded with phrases, and thrown into a confused 
mass. Hence, there is no harmony. Mr. Paine's pe- 
riods are almost faultless in this regard; the members 
of the periods follow each other like the waves of the 
ocean, which gives evenness of "tread'' and majesty of 
expression. While the style of Mr. Jeiferson is abso- 
lutely devoid of all harmony, for the members of the 
periods move on like the rumbling of a government 
wagon over a rough and stony road. 
' This peculiarity of style is one of mental constitu- 
tion. It is an effect of nature which education can 
never remedy. No art can reach it, for no mental 
training can annul a law of nature. It may be said 
of the writer in this regard as of the poet : " He is 
born, not made.'' It is herein nature made these two 
men entirely unlike. -Paine was a poet; Jefferson was 
not. The former had the most lively imagination ; the 
latter had none at all. It is this quality of the mind — 
imagination — which adorns language with the figure. 

In the proper use of the figure Mr. Paine can not be 
excelled. Mr. Jefferson makes but infrequent use of 
figures of speech, and when he goes out of the ruts of 
custom, he almost always fails in his efforts. Two or 
three examples will suffice. In vol. i, p. 58, he says: "I 



238 DECLARATION OF 

never heard either of them speak ten minutes at a time, 
nor to any but the main point which was to decide the 
question. They laid their shoulders to the great points, 
knowing that the little ones would follow of them- 
selves/^ In this men are arguing the points of a ques- 
tion. But Mr. Jefferson says they ** laid their shoulders'' 
to them, instead of their tongues. In vol. i, p. 358, he 
says : " The Emperor, to satisfy this tinsel passion, 
plants a dagger in the heart of every Dutchman, which 
no time will extract.'' Perhaps these planted daggers 
will take root. He speaks also about ^^ confabs " and 
" swallowing opinions." 

Let us look now, for a moment, at the grand requi- 
sites of style, PreGision, Unity, and Strength. 

Of the first, I would say, I have never yet seen an 
ambiguous sentence in Paine's works. Mr. Jefferson's 
style is confused, labored, and prolix. There is no 
paragraph he ever wrote, especially in the first half of 
his life, but will bear me out in the assertion, that he 
uses a great many words to express a few ideas. The 
above quotation I cite on this point. It could all have 
been put into one-fourth of the space, and thus have been 
rendered clear and distinct. His style, however, grew 
better as he grew older. He is diffuse, which at once 
destroys Unity of expression. He puts subject after 
subject into one period, often into one sentence. The 
consequence is, there is no order in his style, and his 
ideas tumble over each other in the greatest confusion ; 
and the consequence of this is, there is no Strength to 
his style. 

That the reader may see all these faults, I will 



INDEPENDENCE. 239 

make a brief analysis of the Introduction to the 
'^Summary View," quoted above: 

FIEST PEEIOD. 

1. Instruction^ to deputies. 

2. When assembled in Congress. 

3. With other deputies. 

4. To propose to Congress. 

5. To present an address to his Majesty. 

6. Begging leave to lay before him complaints. 

7. Complaints excited. 

8. By encroachments and usurpations. 

9. By the legislature of a part of the empire. 

10. On the rights which God and the laws have given 

11. Equally to all. 

This is the first sentence. In it he has put the 
Introduction, the Bill of Rights, the Indictment, a 
proposition to Congress to go a begging before his 
Majesty, and several other particular? But let us 
continue with the next sentence : 

SECOND PEEIOD. 

12. To represent to his Majesty. 

13. That his states. 

14. Humble application. 

15. To Imperial Throne. 

16. To get redress of injured rights. 

17. No answer. 

Here there is no relation between the beginning of 
the sentence and the conclusion. 



240 DJECLA RA TION OF 

THIRD PERIOD. 

18. Humbly to hope. 

19. By joint address. 

a. Penned in truth. 

h. Divested of terms of servility. 

20. Would persuade his Majesty. 

21. That we ask no favors. 

22. But rights. 

23. Shall obtain a respectful acceptance. 

24. His Majesty will think. 

25. We have reason to expect. 

26. When he reflects. 

a. That he is only the chief officer. 
h. Appointed by law. 

c. Circumscribed with powers. 

d. To assist in working the great machine of 

government. 

e. Erected for their use. 

/. Are therefore subject to their superintend- 
ence. 

27. And that these our rights. 

28. As well as invasions. 

29. May be laid before his Majesty. 

a. To take a view of them. 

h. From their origin. 

c. And first settlement of these countries. 

It is only necessary to remark on the above, that 
thirty or forty subjects can hardly be handled success- 
fully in three periods. How different is this from the 
Declaration, or, in fact, from any production of Mr. 
Paine^s. 



INDEPENDENCE. 241 

In the three great requisites of style, Precisiorij 
Unity, and Strength, where Mr. Paine is so perfect, we 
see great defects in Jefferson ; and in the fourth. Har- 
mony, a complete failure. 

If we now take the '^ Summary View," and submit 
it to the same critical analysis as I have the Declara- 
tion of Independence, we will find the same defects in 
it, as a whole, that we find in the first paragraph, 
which I have just analyzed. There is a complete mix- 
ture of all subjects. But this I leave to the reader, 
should he question the truth of my assertion. 

If we now turn to the synopsis of the Declaration, 
we will find an exhibition of the most perfect order. 
The Introduction is short, to the point, and complete. 
The Bill of Rights contains the first principles. These 
apply to mankind universally. It then proceeds as a 
specialty. The Indictment is divided into three grand 
divisions. Usurpation, Abdication, and War, and the 
separate counts are stated, clearly containing but one 
subject. Nowhere do we find a mixing up of differ- 
ent subjects. We do not find a count of war under 
the head of usurpation, nor one of usurpation under 
the head of war. 

There is also seen the passion for alliteration 
throughout the whole instrument^ and especially in the 
following passages : " Fostered and fixed in principles 
of freedom." Paragraph 22 is filled with examples. 
But in paragraph 15 it seems he uses the power of the 
mind to aid him in itemizing counts. He takes t for 
the letter under which he marshals this army of 
charges : '' Troops," "trial," " trade," " taxes," " trial," 



242 DECLARATION OF 

[No. 2,] " transportation/^ " tried." Here are seven 
words comprising as many charges following in suc- 
cession. He follows it with others, but never uses the 
t again. This shows a passion for order and allitera- 
tion. I presume there is no other document in the 
world with these peculiarities so marked, and I pre- 
sume there is no writer in the world who ever exhib- 
ited to such a remarkable degree these peculiarities of 
style, as did Thomas Paine. [See on this subject Ju- 
nius Unmasked, p. 107.] Now, these peculiarities are 
almost entirely wanting in Thomas Jefferson, and 
without them it is absolutely impossible for him to be 
the author of the Declaration of Independence. 

I wish now to call attention to the word " hath." It 
is found but once in the Declaration, and is in paragraph 
2, in the following connection: ^^And accordingly all 
experience hath shown." It is put in here for the sake 
of harmony and force in sound, for if we substitute 
the word has, there will be a halting at shown, and a 
disagreeable hissing sound. At the time this was writ- 
ten Mr. Paine frequently used the word, and it may 
have slipped in unnoticed, on account of sound, or he 
may have put it in so that the critic could track him. I 
have never seen the word in any of Jefferson's writ- 



SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS. 

I have heretofore shown that Mr. Paine had the 
Declaration of Independence in view in the production 
of Common Sense, and that he sketched therein the 
outlines in the same order in wdiich they afterward 
appeared. I have shown its architecture and plan, and 



INDEPENDENCE, 243 

also its style, to be that of Mr. Paine's, aod not Mr. 
Jefferson's. I have shown this somewhat in detail, but 
not more than the subject demanded. Herein I have 
given the grand outlines and general features, but I 
shall now review the whole, to point out its special 
characteristics, that, in the multitude of small things all 
tending one way, it will be made conclusive to the mind 
of the reader that it is Mr. Paine's, and not Jefferson's. 
In this I shall be compelled, some times, to refer to 
propositions already proven in the first part of this 
work, to shorten the argument, not wishing to go over 
the same ground twice. In the demonstration of a theo- 
rem in geometry, what has been proven is made to aid 
what shall come after. I shall proceed with the same 
method, and not be guilty of taking any thing which 
Mr. Paine may have written afterward, to prove some- 
thing which has gone before. But mental chai^acteris- 
tics may be taken wherever we can find them. I am 
confined to Common Sense, and shall use also Junius as 
aiding, but never to entirely prove a point. In my ref- 
erences to Common Sense, I shall be compelled to refer 
to the page. I use the political works of Mr. Paine as 
published by J. P. Mendum, Boston, as they are most 
generally known and read in this country. With these 
explanations, the reader can not go wrong. 

I now take up the original Declaration, beginning 
with the Introduction; andj as I have numbered its 
paragraphs, I shall use the figures to denote them, pro- 
ceeding in their numerical order: 

Paragraph 1. '^Political bonds." The same figure 
is found on page 64, Common Sense. 
16 



244 DECLARA TION OF 

** To assume among the powers of the earth the sepa- 
rate and equal station to which the laws of nature and 
of nature's God entitle them.'' Here the crowning 
thought is that God, through his natural laws, and by 
natural proofs, designed a separation. Thus Mr. Paine, 
in Common Sense, page 37, says: ^^ The distance at 
which the Almighty hath placed England and America 
is a strong and natural proof that the authority of the 
one over the other was never the design of Heaven." 
. . . ^' Every thing that is right ov natural pleads 
for separation." 

Note also above the phrase, " separate and equal sta- 
tion." The writer of the Declaration considered Eng- 
land and America equal, and thus Mr. Paine says, 
above : " It is proof that the authority of the one over 
the other was never the design of Heaven." 

^*A decent respect for the opinions of mankind re- 
quires that they should declare the causes which impel 
them to the separation." Note hereunder the phrase, 
^' decent respect.'^ Thus, in his introduction to his first 
Letter, which was an indictment and declaration of 
principles also, Junius says : " Let us enter into it [the 
inquiry] with candor and decency. Respect is due to 
the station of ministers, and, if a resolution must at last 
be taken, there is none so likely to be supported with 
firmness as that which has been adopted with modera- 
tion." 

The above are perfect parallels in idea, and in the ex- 
pression of the prominent thought, "decent respect,'^ 
But the thought is expanded from the narrow confines 
of the British nation to the whole world, and if Mr. 
Paine wrote both, as they strongly indicate, to make 



INDEPENDENCE. 245 

tbe conclusion good we must find this change or mental 
growth in Mr. Paine to coincide therewith. Here it is: 
"In this extensive quarter of the globe, we forget the 
narrow limits of three hundred and sixty miles (the ex- 
tent of England), and carry our friendship on a larger 
scale. We claim brotherhood with every European 
Christian, and triumph in the generosity of the senti- 
ment. 

" It is pleasant to observe by what regular gradations 
we surmount local prejudices as we enlarge our acquaint- 
ance with the world. A man born in any town in 
England,^^ etc. I wish the reader to read the whole of 
the paragraph I have begun. See Common Sense, 
pages 35 -and 36. See also Crisis, viii, near its close; 
a noble passage on the same subject. Mr. Paine fre- 
quently takes the pains to tell us how he outgrew his 
local prejudices, and how he at last considered the 
" world his country." He undertook, also, for America 
what he calls 'Hhe business of a world.^^ — Common 
Sense, page 63. 

Paragraph 2. "We hold these truths to be self- 
evident: That all men are created equal; that they are 
endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable 
rights." Compare from Common Sense, pages 24, 25, 
atid 28, as follows: " Mankind being originally equals 
in the order of creation, the equality could not be de- 
stroyed by some subsequent circumstance. '^ 
" The equal rights of nature." ..." For all men 
being originally equals," etc. So, also, Junius says: 
"In the rights of freedom we are all equal." . . . 
" The first original rights of the people," etc. To show 
that he believes these rights to be inalienable, he says : 



246 DECLABATION OF 

"The equality can not be destroyed by some subse- 
quent circumstance." 

'' Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Jun- 
ius uses the terms, "Life, liberty, and fortune." — Let. 
66. And Mr. Paine frequently, "Life, liberty, and 
property." But these terms were in quite common use 
with many writers. 

" To secure these rights, gove^^nments are instituted 
among men." What is said on government in this 
paragraph is paraphrased or condensed from page 21, 
Common Sense. It is a concise repetition of Mr. 
Paine^s pet theme and political principles, first given to 
the world in Junius, and then elaborated in Common 
Sense. 

^'Prudence indeed will dictate." This word p7'u- 
dence is ever flowing from the pen of Mr. Paine. See 
an example on page 21, Common Sense. It is quite 
common in Junius. The same may be said, also, of 
the word experience. 

"And accordingly all experience hath shown that 
mankind are more disposed to suffer tvhile evils are suf- 
ferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the 
forms to which they are accustomed." Compare Com- 
mon Sense, page 17, as follows : " As a long and violent 
abuse of power is generally the means of calling the 
right of it in question, and in matters, too, which 
might never have been thought of, had not the sufferers 
been aggravated to the inquiry," etc. 

" FormsJ' That is, the " forms of the constitution." 
See Junius, Let. 44, where he says : " I should be con- 
tented to renounce the forms of the Constitution once 
more, if there were no other way to obtain substantial 



INDEPENDENCE. 247 

justice for the people/^ And here the Declaration is 
renouncing the forms. 

^^But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, 
all having in direct object the establishment of an ab- 
solute tyranny over these States/' Paine says on 
tyranny : ^^ Ye that oppose independence now^ ye 
know not what ye do, ye are opening a door to eternal 
tyranny, by keeping vacant the seat of government." 

. . . '^ Ye that dare oppose not only the tyranny, 
but the tyrant, stand forth." Common Sense, p. 47. 

^' To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid 
world, for the truth of which ive pledge a faith, yet un- 
sullied by falsehood.'^ The above sentence is very pe- 
culiar, and I will show wherein. The last member 
of the sentence which I have italicised was stricken 
out of the original draft by Congress. The peculiarity 
in it is that ^' the truth of a fact " is affirmed, and its 
falsehood implied. Now a fact is always true. There 
can be no false facts. What is here meant, is, that we 
pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood, that the state- 
ments are true. Not that the facts are true, but that they 
are facts. It is the passion (if I may so express it) for 
conciseness, to speak of facts being true or false. Now 
this is a peculiarity of Junius. In Let. 3 he says : 
" I am sorry to tell you. Sir William, that in this 
article your first fact is false." It is thus Mr. 
Paine frequently sacrifices both grammar and strict 
definition to conciseness ; but never to obscure the sense. 
An example from the publicly acknowledged pen of 
Mr. Paine ought to be here produced; I, therefore, 
give one from his letter to the Abbe Raynal, which is 
as follows : '' His facts are coldly and carelessly stated. 



248 DECLARATION OF 

They neither inform the reader, nor interest him. 
Many of them are erroneous, and most of them are de- 
fective and obscure." Here "erroneous facts," "false 
facts/' and " facts for the truth of which we pledge a 
faith unsullied by falsehood," are evidence of the same 
head and hand. It is thus an author puts some pecu- 
liar feature of his soul on paper unwittingly ; and it 
lies there a fossil, till the critic, following the lines of 
nature, gathers it up to classify, arrange, and combine 
with others, and then to put on canvas, or in marble 
bust. It may be well to remind the reader that the 
above peculiarity I can nowhere find in Jefferson's 
writings. 

I now call attention to the sentence : " But when a 
long train of abuses and usurpations [begun at a dis- 
tinguished period, and pursuing invariably the same 
object] evinces a design to reduce them under absolute 
despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw 
off such government, and to provide new guards for 
their future security." 

I have placed in brackets what has been interpolated 
by Jefferson. I conclude this from the following reasons : 

1. It breaks the measure. 

2. It destroys the harmony of the period, and the 
sentence is complete and harmonious without it. 

3. " Begun at a distinguished period," is indefinite. 

4. It refers to time, and is mixed up with other 
subject matter, and is therefore in the wrong place. 

5. It is tautology, for two sentences further on it is 
all expressed in its proper place, in referring to the his- 
tory of the king. 

In all of these particulars it is not like Mr. Paine, 



INDEPENDENCE. 249 

for he is never guilty of such a breach of rhetoric. 
But in all of the above particulars it is just like Mr. 
Jefferson. 

The above two paragraphs comprise the Introduc- 
tion and the Bill of Rights, and are the foundation of 
the Declaration. It is a basis fit and substantial, be- 
cause one of universal principles, so that whatever 
special right may be enunciated, it will rest firmly on 
this foundation ; or whatever special denunciation of 
wrongs, it will have its authority therein. 

I now pass to consider the indictment under its three 
divisions — Usurpation, Abdication, and War. 

If the reader will now turn back to page 223, he 
will find from paragraphs 3 to 15, inclusive, the 
whole charge of usurpation included therein. But, sep- 
arately, we find paragraph 3 to be a charge of the 
abuse of the king's negative; and he concludes in para- 
graph 15 with the climax, '^suspending our own legis- 
latures, and declaring themselves [the king and parlia- 
ment] invested with power to legislate for us in all 
cases whatsoever." Now, if the reader will tdrn to 
page 41, Common Sense, which is page 213 of this 
book, he will find Mr. Paine beginning the first of his 
*^ several reasons " as follows : 

"1. The powers of governing still remaining in the 
hands of the king, he will have a negative over the 
whole of this continent.'^ 

It will be observed, in a general view, that the 
reasons given by Mr. Paine cover the whole thirteen 
paragraphs; and it will be observed specially that he 
begins the reasons the same as he does the indictment — 
namely, with the king's negative. Mr. Paine was vio- 



250 DECLARATION OF 

lently opposed to the king's negative,, and all through 
life he never fails to attack it, when the opportunity of- 
fered itself. This would weigh most lieavily on his 
mind, and be most naturally uttered first. On page 59 
of Common Sense will also be found reasons for inde- 
pendence, which come within this part of the indict- 
ment. But pages 41, 42, 43 of Common Sense cover 
nearly, or quite all of it. But they are stated generally 
for the sake of argument — not specially for the sake of 
indictment. 

Paragraph 16. *^ He has abdicated government here, 
withdrawing his governors, and declaring us out of his 
allegiance and protection. '^ Com{)are with this the fol- 
lowing, to be found on page 61 of Common Sense: 
*^ The present state of America is truly alarming to 
every man who is capable of reflection. Without law, 
without government, without any other mode of power 
than what is founded on and granted by courtesy. 
Hehl together by an unexampled occurrence of senti- 
ment, which is, nevertheless, subject to change, and 
which every secret enemy is endeavoring to dissolve. 
Our present condition is legislation without law. wis- 
dom without a plan, a constitution without a name." 

I now take up the third part of the indictment — War. 

Paragraph 17. " He has plundered our seas, ravaged 
our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of 
our people." 

Paragraph 18. '^ He is at this time transporting 
large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the 
works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, 
with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy unworthy the 
head of a civilized nation." 



INDEPENDENCE, 251 

On the above two counts, which charge war and in- 
vasion, I submit from Common Sense, page 62, as fol- 
lows ; ^^It is the violence which is done and threatened to 
our persons, the destruction of our property by an armed 
force, the invasion of our country by fire and sword, 
which conscientiously qualifies the use of arms ; and the 
instant in which such mode of defense became neces- 
sary, all subjection to Britain ought to have ceased, and 
the independence of America should have been consid- 
ered as dating its era from, and published by the first 
musket that was fired against her." 

Under the above, also, may be classed paragraph 19. 

Paragraph 20. ^' He has endeavored to bring on the 
inhabitants the merciless Indian savages, whose known 
rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all 
ages, sexes, and conditions of existence." Compare 
Common Sense, page 47, as follows : " There are thou- 
sands and tens of thousands who would think it glori- 
ous to expel from the continent that barbarous and 
hellish power which hath stirred up the Indians and 
negroes to destroy us." 

. Paragraph 21. ^' He has excited treasonable insurrec- 
tion,^^ etc. Compare Common Sense, page 61, as fol- 
lows : " The tories dared not have assembled offensively, 
had they known that their lives, by that act, were for- 
feited to the laws of the State. A line of distinction 
should be drawn between English soldiers taken in 
battle and inhabitants of America taken in arms: the 
first are prisoners, but the latter traitors — the one for- 
feits his liberty, the other his head." 

The above paragraph and the following one, it will 
be remembered, were stricken out by Congress. 



252 DECLARATION OF 

I now come to the closing paragraph of this part of 
the indictmentj and, as it is the most important of all, 
the author kept it for a climax, and he throws his 
whole soul into it. I will transcribe it here: 

Paragraph 22. " He has waged cruel war against hu- 
man nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of 
life and liberty, in the persons of a distant people, who 
never offended him, captivating and carrying them into 
slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable 
death in their transportation thither. This piratical 
warfare, the opprobrium of INFIDEL powers, is the 
warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain. 
Determined to keep open a market where MEN should 
be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for 
suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to 
restrain this execrable commerce; and, that this assem- 
blage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished 
die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms 
among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has 
deprived them; thus paying oif former crimes, com- 
mitted against the LIBERTIES of one people, with 
crimes which he urges them to commit against the 
LIVES of another.'^ 

The capital words in the above are his own. Let us 
begin with the last sentence, and go backward. The 
substance of the last sentence is, that by exciting the 
negroes to rise on the people of this continent, the 
king was guilty of a double crime, both against the lib- 
erties of the negroes and the lives of the American 
people. Compare Common Sense, page 47, as follows: 
^' He hath stirred up the Indians and negroes to destroy 
us ; the cruelty hath a double guilt — it is dealing brutally 



INDEPENDENCE. 253 

hy us and treacherously hy them.^^ This is the same 
complex idea, well reasoned out, and expressed almost 
in the same language — certainly in the same style. But 
Jefferson '^ never consulted a single book/^ so original was 
the Declaration to his own mind and habits of thought ! 

Let us now take the sentence : " This piratical 
warfare, the opprobrium of INFIDEL powers, is the 
warfare of the CHRISTIAN king of Great Britain." 
The antithesis above between infidel and christian, falls 
upon the mind with such stunning weight; with such 
boldness of religious sentiment; with such emphasis in 
expression, and with such withering sarcasm toward 
the king, that it becomes an epitome of Mr, Paine him- 
self, and a concise record of his whole life, up to that 
period. The reader can not fail here to see the pen of 
Junius, and to recall the great power of antithesis in 
all his Letters. This peculiarity of style is absolutely 
wanting in Jefferson. 

The first sentence in the paragraph, is in every 
phrase so like Mr. Paine, the reader must think it 
superfluous to comment upon it. The expressions, 
"cruel war,'^ "against human nature," "sacred rights,'' 
"life and liberty," "in the persons of," and especially 
^^ prostituted y^ are all to be found in Common Sense and 
Junius. For the phrase "in the persons of," see it 
repeated three times on page 22 of Common Sense. 

Thus ends the Indictment. It is Article I, of Mr. 
Paine's Manifesto, heretofore pointed out. I now pro- 
ceed with Article II of the Manifesto, which he states to 
be " the peaceful methods which we have ineffectually 
used for redress." See Common Sense, p. 66. It is as 
follows : 



254 DECLAB4-TI0N OF 

Paragraph 23. " In every stage of these oppressions 
we have petitioned in the most humble terms ; our 
repeated petitions have been answered by repeated 
injuiies/^ Compare Common Sense, pp. 39-40, as 
follows : ^' Every quiet method for peace hath been 
ineffectual. Our prayers hath been rejected with dis- 
dain, and only tended to convince us that nothing 
flatters vanity or confirms obstinacy in kings more 
than in 7'epeated petitioning J' 

Paragraph 24. "A prince whose character is thus 
marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit 
to be the ruler of a people who mean to be free* 
Future ages will scarcely believe, that the hardiness of 
one man, adventured within the short compass of twelve 
years only, to lay a foundation so broad and so undis- 
guised for tyranny over a people fostered and fixed in 
principles of freedom.'^ 

The first sentence pronounces the king a tyrant, and 
is so often repeated heretofore by Mr. Paine, it is useless 
to cite any thing in proof The second sentence was 
stricken out of the Declaration by Congress, and con- 
tains new matter which must be attended to. And 

First, ^' Future ages will scarcely believe thatJ^ This 
phrase is peculiar to Mr. Paine, for his mind was 
continually dwelling on the future. So Junius says: 
" Posterity loill scarce believe that.'' — Let. 48. And Mr. 
Paine says: ''Mankind will scarcely believe thaf — 
Rights of Man, p. 94. 

I parallel this phrase not so much to show a vei'^>al 
construction as to show a mental characteristic wh;ch 
must express itself in the same language. 

Second, " That the> hardiness of one man adventured/'^ 



INDEPENDENQE. 255 

Compare with this from Common Sense^ page 41 : "No 
man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself, 
before the fatal nineteenth of April, 1775; but the 
moment the event of that day was made known, I 
rejected the hardened, sullen-tempered Pharaoh of 
England forever,'^ etc. How different is this language 
in the Declaration, from that used by Mr. Jefferson in 
the " Summary View,'' when speaking of the king. 
Jefferson used the word majesty, as though he was 
speaking to a god; and seems to delight in the repetiton 
of it. See p. 236. 

Third, " Within the short compass of twelve years 
only.'' The Declaration was dated July 4th, 1776. 
Twelve years would take it back to 1764. This was 
the year the stamp act passed, and made an era in 
colonial troubles. Now, if Mr. Paine had been speak- 
ing of the troubles of the English people, he would 
have used the same expression, with the exception of 
adding a year ; for, as before stated in the first part of 
this work, Mr. Paine dated the miseries, oppressions, 
and invasions on the rights of the English people from 
the close of the Seven Years' War, or the beginning of 
1763. And the time was estimated in round numbers 
as follows : 

Junius says, in the beginning of 1769: "Outraged 
and oppressed as we are, this nation will not bear after 
a six years'^ jpeaGe,^ etc. ; and, also, in the beginning of 
1770 : "At the end of seven years we are loaded," etc. 
Mr. Paine, at the close of the year 1778, says to the 
English people : " A period of sixteen years of mis- 
conduct and misfortune," etc. These round numbers 
all refer back to the beginning of 1763, and the ex- 



256 DECLARATION OF 

pression in the Declaration, '^ within the short compass 
of twelve years only/^ is not, as it appears, inconsistent 
with this peculiarity, for the English era with him was 
1763, and the American 1764. Nowhere do I find 
this mental characteristic in Jeiferson. This is strong 
proof — it goes beyond proof, it is demonstration. Mr. 
Jefferson, nor any man living, could steal this fact; it 
is one of mental constitution, stamped there and point- 
ing with fingers of truth both backward and forward 
to Thomas Paine, and at right angles to the character 
of Thomas Jefferson. 

The figure " compass ^^ is often found in Mr. Paine's 
writings, as "compass a plan," and the like. But I 
call attention to the perfect similarity in style between 
the Declaration and every passage from Common 
Sense. 

Paragraph 25. "Nor have we been wanting in 
attention to our British brethren. We have warned 
them from time to time," etc. It is the peculiarity of 
Mr. Paine to hold up a warning to the sense. See 
on this point, page 163 of this work. 

"We have reminded them of the circumstances of 
our emigration and settlement here." Compare Com- 
mon Sense, p. 35, as follows: "This new world hath 
been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of civil and 
religious liberty from evety ^jart of Europe. Hither 
have they fled, not from the tender embraces of the 
mother, but from the cruelty of the monster, and it is 
so far true of England, that the same tyranny which 
drove the first emigrants from home pursues their de- 
scendants still." Thus, also, says the Declaration (and 
note the style) : " These were affected at the expense 



INDEPENDENCE. 257 

of our Own blood and treasure, unassisted by the wealth 
or strength of Great Britain; that in constituting in- 
deed our several forms of government we had adopted 
one common Mng^ 

I call attention to the" phrases, '^ common hing,^^ 
" common blood/' and " common kindred/' in the same 
paragraph. Mr. Paine was never guilty of calling 
England the ^^ parent'^ or '^mother'' country, but the 
^^ common" country. (See Common Sense, p. 36.) 
Junius in Let. 1 says: '^A series of inconsistent 
measures has alienated the Colonies from their duty as 
subjects, and from their natural affection to their com- 
mon country,'' Jefferson uses ^^ parent'^ and "mother^' 
country, both before and after the writing of the Dec- 
laration. 

In connection with the above sentence from Junius, 
I subjoin the same sentiment in regard to natural affec- 
tion from the Declaration a few sentences further on, 
as follows : " These facts have given the last stab to 
agonizing affection, and manly spirit bids us to renounce 
forever these unfeeling brethren. We must endeavor 
to forget our former love for them, and hold them as 
we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace 
friends.^^ Compare with this. Common Sense, p. 
47, as follows : '^ To talk of friendship with those in 
whom our reason forbids us to have faith, and our 
affections wounded through a thousand pores instruct 
us to detest, is madness and folly. Every day wears 
out the little remains of kindred between us and them.^^ 
In regard to the phrase ^Wenounce forever" above, as 
quoted from the Declaration, compare Common Sense, 
p. 38, as follows : " That seat of wretchedness [speak- 



258 DECLABATION OF 

ing of Boston] will teach us wisdom and instruct us 
to forever renounce a power in whom we can have no 
trust." See also Common Sense, p. 37, as follows : 
^' And our duty to mankind at large, as well as to our- 
selves, instructs us to renounce the alliance.'^ 

The expression "forever" will not be mistaken, for 
it runs through Junius^ and all of Mr. Paine's writ- 
ings as a common expression. 

The figure " to stab " is one which Mr. Paine adopted 
in Junius and carried through his whole life. Thus he 
talks about " stabbing the Constitution," and " to stab 
the character of the nation." The former is found in 
Junius, the latter in his Letter to the Abbe Paynal. 

The italicised phrases in the following expression, 
^^ These facts have given the last stab to agonizing affec- 
tion, and manly spirit bids us to renounce forever,^' etc., 
are so very like Mr. Paine, and so entirely unlike Mr. 
Jefferson, that the cursory reader, with the commonest 
understanding, Avould not fail to pronounce in favor 
of the former being the author. 

I now call attention to a striking peculiarity in re- 
gard to the mention of the Scotch. It is found in the 
same paragraph, and is as follows : "At this very time, 
too, they [our British brethren] are permitting their 
chief magistrate to send over not only soldiers of our 
common blood, but Scotch and foreign mercenaries, to in- 
vade and destroy us." The word mercenaries is used 
once before in the Declaration. 

The writer of the Declaration is speaking of the 
" British brethren," whom he designates as " of our 
common blood," but excludes the Scotch therefrom. 
Now, we know Mr. Paine to have been an English- 



INDEPENDENCE. 259 

man, and that in Junius he often inveighed bitterly 
against the Scotch. The reader will remember what he 
said of Mr. Wedderburn^ on page 195 of this work. 
Mansfield was a Scotchman, and this fact embitters Ju- 
nius. He speaks of the Scotch "^ cunning/^ " treach- 
ery/^ and ^-fawning sycophancy/' of ^'^the character- 
istic prudence, the selfish nationality, the indefatigable 
smile, the persevering assiduity, the everlasting profes- 
sion of a discreet and moderate resentment.^' It is 
quite evident that the writer of the Declaration did not 
consider the Scotch as included in the term ^^ British 
brethren," whom he warned, as he called them ^^ mer- 
cenaries;^^ nor as having the like origin, nor as being 
of the same race as the term " common blood '' indi- 
cates. These are facts which speak out of the Declara- 
tion, and as such Jefferson could not have written them, 
for two reasons : 

1. He had no antipathy to the Scotch, but rather a 
liking. This is seen in the selection of his teachers, 
both by his parents and himself At nine years of age 
he studies Latin, Greek, and French under the Rev. 
Mr. Douglas, a Scotchman, living with the minister at 
the same time. At fourteen, and after his father's 
death, he goes away to attend the school of Mr. Murray, 
a Scotchman ; and when he goes to college at Williams- 
burg, being then a young man grown, he becomes 
strongly attached to one Professor Small, a Scotchman. 
In short, Jefferson was peculiarly attached to the Scotch, 
and why? 

2. Because he was nearer related to them by "com- 
mon blood " than to the English. He was of Welsh 
origin — a perfect Celt, and not a Briton. Now, the 

17 



260 DECLARATION OF 

Cimbri of Wales and the Gael of Scotland are of the 
same blood, build, habits, and instincts. Jefferson, on 
Scotch soil, would have been taken, from personal ap- 
pearance, to be a red-headed Scotchman, and a fine spec- 
imen at that. From ^^ common blood '^ then, he could 
not consistently have written it, if he knew any thing 
about his origiu, or compreheuded what he was writing. 

But there is an argument in this connection, which 
goes toward the whole instrument, showing that Mr. 
Jefferson could not possibly be the author of it. In a 
special commentary of Mr. Jefferson\s on this phrase, 
^^ Scotch and foreign mercenaries/' he misquotes the 
Declaration, which he would not be likely to do if he 
wrote it. In volume viii, page 500, of his works, he 
says : " When the Declaration of Independence was un- 
der the consideration of Congress, there were two or 
three unlucky expressions in it, which gave offense to 
some members. The words, 'Scotch and other foreign 
auxiliaries' excited the ire of a gentleman or two of 
that country." In the phrase " Scotch and other for- 
eign auxiliaries," Jefferson is trying to quote the words 
" Scotch and foreign mercenaries.'' There is a vast dif- 
ference between the two words ^^auxiliaries" and "mer- 
cenaries." But the former expresses the real spirit of 
Jefferson, the latter of Paine. Entirely different senti- 
ments produced the two expressions. The style, also, 
is changed from Paine's to Jefferson^s, by putting in the 
word "other." It is thus changed from the concise to 
the diffuse. Mr. Jefferson says this expression was 
"unlucky;" and it still proves to be, near the close of 
a century. 

Now, the word mercenaries, which, with the author 



INDEPENDENCE. 261 

of the Declaration, means prostituted hirelings, is used 
twice in the instrument, but auxiliaries, which would 
mean lionorable allies, is not used once. It is not 
strange that he should forget, for the sentiment is for- 
eign to his own character; and I had written my argu- 
ment, and given my reasons above why Mr. Jefferson 
could not possibly be the author of that sentiment, a 
month before I found that Jefferson had misquoted the 
Declaration. I reason from first principles, which rest 
on established facts, the silent language of nature, com- 
pared with which the vain babblings of men amount 
to nothing. For example, John Adams says that he 
and Mr. Jefferson met as a sub-committee to draft the 
Declaration; that he urged Jefferson to do it; that 
afterward they both met, and conned it over, and he 
does not remember of making or suggesting a single al- 
teration. This Mr. Jefferson denies. He says there 
was no sub-committee; that Adams has forgotten about 
it; that he [Jefferson] drew it, and turned to neither 
book nor pamphlet while writing it, and that Adams 
did correct it. — Jefferson^s Works, vol. vii, pages 304, 
305. Here are two men, one eighty and the other 
eighty-eight, on whose words histor}^ rests, differing 
materially about historic facts. The one who can not 
quote an important passage correctly, as to fact or lan- 
guage which he says he wrote himself, accuses the other 
of forgetting about a committee which never existed. 
The reader must fudge. 

" Be it so.'^ Let us find the feeling which produced 
this expression. It is peculiar to Junius. See Letters 
18, 34, and 44, where the sentence is used. And now 
let me remark, that the reaAer may he led to a just crit- 



262 DECLARATION OF 

icism, and not ramble after vague and unmeaning ex- 
pressions, the spirit of the writer must be found, the 
prominent sentiment of the heart must be felt, the cause 
must be seen which shall give utterance to the expres- 
sion, " Be it so.'^ How trifling it appears to the cursory 
reader! But let me arrest your attention. Junius 
uses the expression three times, and every time in con- 
nection with the sentiment of dignity. So, also, in the 
• Declaration. It is only produced in him by a feeling, 
and the peculiar and particular feeling of dignity, in 
antithesis to contempt, littleness, disrepute, or mean- 
ness. I will now give the context. In Let. 18 he 
says : " You seem to think the channel of a pamphlet 
more respectable, and better suited to the dignity of 
your cause, than a newspaper. Be it so." 

In Let. 34 he says: "We are told by the highest 
judicial authority that Mr. Yaughan^s offer to purchase 
the reversion of a patent place in Jamaica amounts to 
a high misdemeanor. Be it so ; and if he deserves it, 
let him be punished. But the learned judge might 
have had a fairer opportunity of displaying the powers 
of his eloquence. Having delivered himself with so 
much energy upon the criminal nature and dangerous 
consequences of any attempt to corrupt a man in your 
grace^s station, what would he have said to the minis- 
ter himself, to that very privy counselor, to that first 
commissioner of the treasury, who does not wait for, 
but impatiently solicits the touch of corruption, who 
employs the meanest of his creatures in these honor- 
able services, and forgetting the genius and fidelity of 
the secretary, descends to apply to his housebuilder for 
assistance ? '^ 



INDEPENDENaE. 263 

In Let. 44 he says : '' There may be instances of 
contempt and insult to the House of Commons, which 
do not fall within my own exceptions^ yet, in regard to 
the dignity of the house, ought not to pass unpunished. 
Be it so.'' 

In the Declaration, paragraph 25, we read: ^^We 
might have been a free and a great people together, but 
a communication of grandeur and freedom, it seems, is 
below their dignity. Be it so, since they will have it. 

So much for the trifling little trinity of words made 
up of six letters, when traced to their mental origin. 
The reader will see an aura of dignity always darting 
out from the sentence when used by Mr. Paine. It 
might never have this connection in the soul of any 
other man. This closes paragraph 25, and I proceed 
to the conclusion. 

Paragraph 26. Here the nation is named. "The 
United States of America,'^ are declared " free and in- 
dependent States.'^ ..." And for the support of 
this declaration we mutually pledge to each other our 
lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." Compare 
Common Sense, conclusion, as follows : " Wherefore, in- 
stead of gazing at each other with suspicious or doubt- 
ful curiosity, let each of us hold out to his neighbor the 
hearty hand of friendship, and unite in drawing a line 
which, like an act of oblivion, shall bury in forgetful- 
ness every former dissension. Let the name of whig 
and tory be extinct; and let none other be heard among 
us than those of a good citizen, an open and resolute 
friend, and a virtuous supporter of the eights of majs- 
E"ixD, and of the Free and Independent States 
OF America." 



264 DECLARATION OF 

I have now gone through with the Declaration, both 
in a general and special manner. In the former regard 
I have found it to be the soul's image of Mr. Paine, in 
style, order, and construction, and, in the latter, a com- 
plete synopsis of Common Sense. I have fully and con- 
clusively shown that the substance of every paragraph is 
found in Common Sense, with much of the language the 
same, and also that many special, mental peculiarities, 
common to Mr. Paine, and wanting in Mr. JefPerson, 
are found there. Now, Mr. Jefferson never before, nor 
since, ever produced any thing like it in any of these 
particulars. If we take a hasty re\^iew, we will find 
that in as many particulars as the Declaration has, in 
just so many there is a reproduction of Mr. Paine. In 
no single fact does the Declaration disagree with Mr. 
Paine. It does with Mr. Jefferson in very many. I 
have shown also that it would be impossible for Mr. 
Jefferson to steal it, for he would have to steal the very 
soul of Mr. Paine, and write under its influence. This 
is above proof, it is demonstration. 

But I will hold the reader to history. It is a fact, 
well established, that he did not consult one single author 
thereon. He says so himself. Mr. Bancroft, the great 
American historian, says so. If I had found him mis- 
taken in this statement, I would have shown wherein. 
He is correct, and it is unnecessary for me to add any 
thing to support his fame. But will he change his con- 
clusions, and will he re-write his own history to support 
the statement that Mr. Jefferson produced it, not from 
^' the fullness of his own mind," but from the fullness of 
Common Sense? I would not cast an aspersion, by the 
remotest insinuation, upon the faithfulness of Mr. Ban- 



INDEPENDENCE. 265 

croft as a historian. He penned the troth in regard to 
a historic fact, but founded a conclusion thereon not 
warranted by the fact. This will prove a lesson to the 
historian, and, therefore, I will further remark, that a 
scientific method has also dawned upon history. Vol- 
taire struck the principle when he brought history 
within the realm of natural causes, and Mr. Buckle 
began to develop the method in an able manner, but 
his life was too short to complete it. That he has 
erred in some particulars, may be true, but he has 
traveled far out on the highways of nature, and, in 
the main, he is right. In this age the historian 
has no business to write unless he travels the same 
road. In fact, he would not be a historian, unless he 
did, but merely the chronicler of events. There 
is a vast distance in the realm of mind between the 
high station of a historian, and the low office of a 
chronicler. But, with this remark I pass on with my 
argument. 

Is it at variance with nature and the general order 
of things that Mr. Jefferson should reproduce Common 
Sense, in all its small particulars, as well as grand 
outlines, observing the same order in its consti-uction, 
a perfect epitome thereof, without studying it. But 
if he did study it, and thus reproduce it, the theft wouhl 
be too monstrous, and there is not in human nature an 
impudence so audacious as to do such a thing under the 
very eye of its author. It would have been a literary 
piracy too disgraceful for human nature to commit or 
to endure. It would have been a robbery too easy of 
detection by Mr. Paine, and there could not be found 
on earth a man so devoid of shame, or of all personal 



266 DECLARATION OF 

honor, or of self-respect as to have committed it. Now 
if Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, 
never vv^as man more disgraced in the literary world. 
But on the other hand, as chairman of a committee of 
five to whom collectively belong the duty to produce 
it or procure it, and who collectively shall share its 
honor, for him as such chairman, to receive from the 
hand of Mr. Paine, as a gift to the nation, the document 
which the country needed, there would be no dishonor 
connected with it. It was nobody^s business who wrote 
it. Mr. Paine and JefPerson understood it, and none 
but themselves could be wronged. History records 
that Mr. Paine and JefPerson were ever after bound 
heart and hand together. Jefferson confided in the 
most fiiithful heart of the world. But after Mr. Paine 
died, it was wrong for Mr. Jefferson to take advantage 
of the silence of death and claim the document. It was 
the wickedness of vanity and a narrow mind that wonld 
direct to be carved on his tombstone, " The author of 
the Declaration of Independence.^' For his own name's 
sake, it ought to be struck out with some friendly chisel. 
It is as painful for me to write this as it would be to 
receive the news of the death of a dear friend, who had 
died with " some curse upon his character. But while 
we look with compassion, let us tell the truth. 

At first, Mr. Jefferson did not write himself down 
the author of the Declaration, and there seems to be a 
growth in this like all other things. Here are the 
different stages : 

1. Notes written on the spot, as events were passing, 
for the truth of which he pledges himself to Heaven 
and earth. He writes as follows : 



INDEPENDENCE. 267 

^'It appearing In the course of these debates that the 
colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina, were not yet 
matured for falling into the parent stem, but that they 
were fast advancing to that state, It was thought most 
prudent to wait awhile for them, and to postpone the 
final decision to July 1st. But that this might occasion 
as little delay as possible, a committee was appointed 
to prepare a Declaration of Independence. The com- 
mittee were John Adams, Dr. Franklin, Roger Sherman, 
Robert R. Livingston, and myself. This was reported 
to the House on Friday, the 28th of June, when it was 
read and ordered to lie on the table.^^ Works, vol. i, 
page 118. 

There is no acknowledgment at this time. This is 
July, 1776. Mr. Paine is in Philadelphia. Had Mr. 
Jefferson been the author, this would have been the 
time for him to have recorded it, as he has not failed to 
record all his other public acts. He is now thirty-three 
years old. 

2. Eleven years afterward, when in Paris, he writes 
to the editor of the Journal de Paris as follows, in 
regard to the history of the Declaration : '^ I was on 
the spot and can relate to you this transaction with 
precision. On the 7th of June, 1776, the delegates 
from Virginia moved, in obedience to instructions from 
their constituents, that Congress shall declare the thirteen 
united colonies to be independent of Great Britain, and 
a confederation should be formed to bind them together, 
and measures be taken to procure the assistance of 
foreign powers. The House ordered a punctual attend- 
ance of all their members the next day at ten o'clock, 



268 DECLARATION OF 

and then resolved themselves into a committee of the 
whole and entered on the discussion. It appeared in the 
course of the debate that seven states, viz., TSTew 
Hampshire, Massachusetts, Ehode Island, Connecticut, 
Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia, were decided 
for a separation; but that six others still hesitated, 
to-wit: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Dela- 
ware, Maryland, and South Carolina. Congress desirous 
of unanimity, and seeing that the public mind was 
advancing rapidly to it, referred the further discussion 
to the first of July, appointing in the meantime, a 
committee to prepare a Declaration of Independence; 
a second, to form articles for the confederation of the 
states; and a third,, to prepare measures for obtaining 
foreign aid. On the 28th of June, the Declaration of 
Independence was reported to the House, and was laid 
on the table.''— Vol. ix, pp. 310, 311. 

There is no acknowledgment that he was the author 
of it yet. This is August, 1787. Mr. Paine is in 
Paris, just on the eve of starting for London. Jeffer- 
son is forty-four years old. 

3. In September, 1809, in answer to a proposition to 
publish liis writings, after mentioning niany of them, 
he says: "I say nothing of numerous drafts of re- 
ports, resolutions, declarations, etc., drawn as a member 
of Congress, or of the legislature of Virginia, such as 
the Declaration of Independence, Report on the Money 
Mint of the United States, the Act of Religious Free- 
dom, etc., etc. These having become the acts of public 
bodies, there can be no personal claim to them.'' This 
is nearly three months after the death of Mr. Paine. 



INDEPENDENCE. 269 

And here he says he makes no personal chiim to it. He 
is now sixty-six years old. 

4. In May, 1819, he gives the same account as first 
above given. Mr. Paine has been dead about ten years. 
He makes no acknowledgment yet that he was the au- 
thor of it, but in the same account pledges himself to 
Heaven and earth for the truth of the statement. — 
Works, vol. vii, page 123. He is now seventy-six years 
old. 

5. In January, 1821, he indirectly acknowledges him- 
self to be the author, but with a great deal of ambigu- 
ity. He takes the same account as given first and third 
above, but interpolates into it a clause, which I have 
placed in brackets in the passage which I give, as fol- 
loAvs: ^' It appearing, in the course of these debates, 
that the colonies of New York, New^ Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, Delaware, Maryland, and South Carolina were 
not yet matured for falling into the parent stem, but 
that they were fast advancing to that state, it was 
thought most prudent to wait awhile for them, and to 
postpone the final decision to July 1st; but, that this 
might occasion as little delay as possible, a committee 
was appointed to prepare a Declaration of Independence. 
The committee were John Adams, Dr. Franklin, Roger 
Sherman, Robert R. Livingston, and myself [Com- 
mittees were also appointed at the same time to prepare 
a plan of confederation for the colonies, and to state the 
terms proper to be proposed for foreign alliance. The 
committee for drawing the Declaration of Independence 
desired me to do it. It was accordingly done, and, be- 
ing approved by them, I] reported [it] to the House on 
Friday, the 28th of June, when it was read, and ordered 



270 DECLARATION OF 

to lie on the table." — Yforks^ vol. i, pages 17 and 18. 
This is the first insinuation. I say insinuation, for the 
sentence, " It was accordingly done, and I reported it," 
is not frank and outspoken, as it ought to be, if he 
meant to say he drafted it. Mr. Paine has been dead 
almost twelve years, but Mr. Jefferson has dropped the 
pledge to Heaven and earth for the truth of it, which 
he has heretofore been careful to put in. He is now 
seventy-eight years old. 

6. In August, 1823, he now comes forward, and says: 
^^ The committee of five met ; no such thing as a sub- 
committee was proposed, but they unanimously pressed 
on myself alone to undertake the draft. I consented. 
I drew it." — Works, vol. vii, page 304. John Adams 
had said there was a sub-committee of two, viz., JefPer- 
son and himself, appointed by the other three. But 
Jefferson says there was not — ^^ that John Adams had 
forgotten about it." Query : Can a person forget about 
something which never was? To this statement there 
is no ^^ pledge to Heaven and earth." He is eighty 
years old. 

7. In the year 1825 he says once that he wrote it, 
and once that he drafted it; but no ^^ pledge to Heaven 
and earth " as before. 

Now, he never acknowledged that he was the author 
of it in any of his works before the death of Mr. Paine. 
He gave several full accounts of the whole transaction, 
and calls on Heaven and earth to witness the'truth of 
his statements. About the time Mr. Paine dies he says 
he can make no personal claim to it. Ten years after 
Mr. Paine's death, he very ambiguously claims it, as if 
his pen refused to write it, and drops his oath. But 



INDEPENDENCE. 271 

twelve years after Mr. Paine's death, and he now in 
his eightieth year, he first says he drew it. Was he too 
modest to affirm it till he had got into his dotage? The 
reader mnst answer. It is with painful feelings I re- 
cord the above facts. " But they are too true, and the 
more is the pity.^^ But to proceed. 

Mr. Jefferson could not have followed so closely Com- 
mon Sense in the production of the Declaration of In- 
dependence, if he had studied it for a whole year with 
this special purpose in view. For, the style he could 
not have imitated; the figures of speech he could not 
have adopted; the impassioned eloquence would have 
stuck to the dry leaves; the exact order would have 
been missed; the fine shades of sentiment would have 
been blotted out; the complex ideas he w^ould have 
failed to grasp; its architectural plan he could not have 
idealized ; and its construction would never have arisen 
from the chaos of scattered materials which he would 
have gleaned. And, above all, the personal character 
of Mr. Paine would have been left out. He would 
have failed in every one of these things. And why? 
Want of mental similarity thereto. This, and nothing 
else. 

I will sum up his mentality as I find it in his writ- 
ings. I have given you Mr. Paine's already. In this 
I shall be brief, speaking only of those powers which 
would be incompatible with, or necessary to, the pro- 
duction of the Declaration. 

Mr. Jefferson was a zealous partisan. Mr. Paine was 
a consummate statesman. Here was the great difference 
between the two men. Those qualities of the mind 
which produce the former are very unlike those which 



272 DECLARATION OF 

produce the latter. The former mind must be narrow 
and selfish, the latter broad and generous. This will 
take in the whole world, that but a small portion of it. 
The partisan has an understanding subject to the vice 
and discipline of cunning; the statesman has an under- 
standing subject to the noblest and most generous af- 
fections. It was this which made Mr. Jefferson such 
a grand success as a party leader, and that, too, which 
perhaps saved the nation from passing into the hands 
of the monarchists. Without these consummate powers 
of the partisan, it would have been impossible for Mr. 
Jefferson to have taken command of the people, to have 
organized his party, to have marshaled his forces, and 
with his army of followers to have put royalty under 
his heel. How unlike Washington and John Adams, 
who preceded him. Hamilton, who would toast a presi- 
dent of America and give three cheers for George the 
Third of England, ruled Washington and governed the 
nation. John Adams, who was so beguiled with roy- 
alty and the British constitution, could not heartily 
sympathize with the people ; the dupe of his own pas- 
sions, he was unfit to be the ruler of a free people. But 
Jefferson, while secretary under Washington, began to 
form his party and draw his party lines. Through 
Freneau he drove Washington to cry out : ^' By God, 
I had rather be in my grave than in my present situa- 
tion ! ^' And, afterward, the party he was marshaling 
made John Adams, then president of the United States, 
desert his post for seven months, at the most trying 
crisis of this government. But the cold, unfeeling par- 
tisanship of the great democrat saved the nation. 

The other crowning difference between the two men 



INDEPENDENQE. . 273 

is, Mr. Paine had extraordinary genius, Mr. Jefferson 
had not; and by genius I mean a lively constructive 
and comprehensive mind, one that can generalize facts 
and deduce principles therefrom, one that can idealize 
and build in the imagination what it would put into 
material shape or on paper. If this comparison be 
true (and the reader is at liberty to bring facts to con- 
tradict it), then Mr. Jefferson could not produce the 
Declaration for want of capacity. 

Tlie Declaration is the work of a master. It is the 
work of one with great experience in the art of com- 
position, one who produced the whole in the ideal 
before he touched pen to paper, and one who followed 
plan and specifications with unerring precision. It is 
a work of the most finished rhetoric, and produced 
with such skill as to defy adverse criticism. It shows 
vast labor and time bestowed upon its execution, hi 
its mechanism I have never seen its equal in all my 
reading and study. It is the most masterly work of 
genius I ever saw in composition. It stands alone in 
the world of letters. There is nothing its equal which 
has come down to us from the ages, and I know of no 
oue save Thomas Paine capable of producing it. That 
he was a master in the art of composition, no one can 
dispute, and he frequently takes pains to give the prin- 
ciples which reveal his success; here is one of them, 
to be found in his Letter to the Abbe Raynal: "To fit 
the powers of thinking and the turn of language to 
the subject, so as to bring out a clear conchision that 
shall hit the point in question, and nothing else, is the 
true criterion of writing/^ See a fine passage on this 
point in the introduction to the same letter. Now 



274 DECLARATION OF 

Jeiferson had not the genius to produce the Declara- 
tion. 

If we look also at several passages in the Declara- 
tion we can only feel their full force after knowing the 
previous career of Mr. Paine as Junius in England. 
Take for example the two paragraphs^ 24 and 25, the 
one of the king and the other of the ^' British brethren.'' 
We see in the one the proud disdain and haughty con- 
tempt for the tyrant; in the other that tender sympa- 
thy for the English people, with a sly thrust at the 
Scotch, and then the wounded affection which comes 
from betrayal of friendship — " the last stab to agonizing 
affection." And then regathering himself from the afflic- 
tion of a broken heart, he exclaims, " Manly spirit bids 
us to renounce forever these unfeeling brethren." But 
no, this can not be done, and in the next breath he 
says, '' we must endeavor to forget our former love for 
them ; " and then comes the wail of anguish in the loss 
of his native country, " We might have been a great 
and a free people together, but a communication of 
grandeur and of freedom it seems is below their dignity. 
Be it so." He now bends beneath the hand of fate 
and cries out, '' I acquiesce in our eternal separation," 
but persist in denouncing it. This is the very picture 
of Mr. Paine's own heart. It is a pitch of enthusiasm 
and aneuish which Mr. Jefferson had neither circum- 
stance in his life nor capacity in his soul to work him- 
self up to. It is neither art nor contrivance, it is the 
recorded beating of his own heart, the sequel to his 
previous life. 

Take again the passage on human slavery. " He 
has waQ:ed cruel war ao;ainst human nature itself." It is 



INDEPENDENCE. 275 

well known that Mr. Paine, before he wrote Common 
Sense, attracted the eyes of the world to him by de- 
nouncing human slavery in the most impassioned elo- 
quence/ This piece he termed ^-Serious Thoughts/' 
etc. Herein he hopes when the Declaration is made 
that " our first gratitude to the Almighty may be shown 
by an act of Continental legislation, which shall put a 
stop to the importation of negroes, soften the hard 
fate of those already here, and in time procure their 
freedom/' And he says, long afterward, to the French 
inhabitants of Louisiana who wished the power to im- 
port and enslave Africans, '' Dare you put up a petition 
to Heaven for such a power without fearing to be struck 
from the earth by its justice?'' But the person who 
wrote the passage on slavery in the original draft of 
the Declaration could never have kept a slave in bond- 
age, if any thing can be gathered from the nobility, 
the manliness, the justice, and the philanthropy of its 
spirit. But Jefferson, while he has left on record his 
opposition in ivords to slavery, has left also on record 
his acts to contradict both them and the Declaration. 
I here draw the veil over Jefferson as a slaveholder. 
While Mr. Jefferson was far above the average mind, 
yet from his mental make-up, either in his head, heart, 
character, or capacity, he could not be the author of 
the Declaration of Independence. Neither in the 
circumstances of his previous life nor personal history, 
neither in the heart nor the head, can we find a foun- 
dation for the famous document. I know of but one 
man American born, at that day, with sufficient genius 
to write it— Benjamin Franklin— and he would have 
18 



276 DECLARATION OF 

failed in the style and language, and especially in those 
fine strokes of the affection.* 

For Mr. Paine to write the Declaration and be ready 
to hand it to the chairman of the committee, is charac- 
teristic of the man. He did the same thing at the 
"Thatched House'' tavern meeting in England in 
1791. Mr. Home Tooke who signed the Address and 
Declaration as chairman of the meeting, received the 
document privately from the hand of Mr. Paine, and 
had Mr. Tooke not afterward disclaimed the author- 
ship of it when charged upon him, Mr. Paine would 
never have revealed the secret. It was revealed in this 

* Since writing the above criticism, I sent for and 
obtained Theodore Parker's work entitled Historic 
Sketches. Previous to this I had not read a word of 
the work. With this explanation I will give two ex- 
tracts from the work, pp. 281, 282: "Mr. Jefferson 
had intellectual talents greatly superior to the common 
mass of men, and for the times his opportunities of 
culture in youth, were admirable." 

" But I can not think his mind a great one. I can 
not point out any name of those times, which may 
stand in the long interval [of capacity] between the 
names of Franklin and John Adams. In the shorter 
space between Adams and Jefferson there were many. 
There was a certain lack of solidity ; his intellect was 
not very profound, not very comprehensive. Intelli- 
gent, able, adroit as he was, his success as an intellect- 
ual man was far from being entire or complete. He 
exhibited no spark of genius, nor any remarkable de- 
gree of original, natural talent." 

This so coincides with what I had written, I add it 
to excite the reader to an investigation, for I know 
full well, the intellectual fame of Mr. Jefferson will 
not bear looking into. 



INDEPENDENCE. 277 

manner : Mr. Tooke having spoken in commendation 
of the Declaration which he signed ^' was jocularly 
accused of praising his own work, and to free him 
from this embarrassment [says Mr. Paine], and the 
repeated trouble of mentioning the author, as lie has 
not failed to do, I make no hesitation in saying, I 
drew up the publication," etc. Now, Mr. Paine was 
never guilty of praising his own worh, and nowhere 
can I find that he ever p^raised the Declaration of In- 
dependence as a \York, or that he ever mentioned 
Junius. Had Mr. Jefferson been the author of the 
Declaration, Mr. Paine no doubt would have called it 
^'A masterly performance J ^ 

And thus it is, his hand is seen, though not pub- 
licly acknowledged, in all those first principles upon 
which the fabric of our government rests. And it 
was the peculiarity of this great man to do the work, 
and let others carry off the honors. 

" But truth shall conquer at the last ; 
For round and round we run, 
And ever the right comes uppermost, 
And ever is justice done." 



]N"OTE A. 

Truly speaking, there is no original Declaration in 
existence. There are several ^' original " Declarations 
extant, all differing somewhat. John Adams had one, 
Benjamin Franklin, it is said, had one in England. 



278 DECLARATION OF 

Richard Henry Lee and others had '' originals, " all in 
manuscript. The one I have followed may be found 
in MarshalFs Life of Washington, and does not differ 
only in a few minor respects from the one in Jeffer- 
soh^s works, Washington edition. The real original 
was destroyed as soon as copied, and we have only 
nature to guide us in the study of one which is almost 
a faithful copy. 



GEAND OUTLINES OF THOMAS 
PAINE^S LIFE. 

Were I to write the biography of Thomas Paine, I 
should, with a bold hand, transcend the low oJBfice of 
a chronicler, and hand him down in history thus: 

Thomas Paine was of Quaker origin. In this he in- 
herited more than paternal flesh and blood, more than 
family form and feature : he had transmitted to him the 
principles of George Fox — principles which were, when 
Mr. Paine was born, more than a hundred years old. 
These were a reliance on the internal evidences of the 
conscience, prompting to moral action and to the love 
of God. In this the shadow of Fox fell athwart the 
Scriptures. The internal light was with him greater 
than that which shone down on the centuries from Je- 
sus of Nazareth. The religions, and creeds, and opin- 
ions of the world were to be brought to the bar of 
conscience for trial, and *^the motions of the spirit'' — 
not the teachings of the Bible — were to be taken in ev- 
idence. His principles were universal in the heart of 
man — not particular in any special book. 

To these religious principles was added simplicity of 
conduct in all the ways of life. In religious or civil 
affairs, whether at home or abroad, with his fellow-man 
or his God, he was to obey the behests of nature, and 

(279) 



280 \ GRAND OUTLINES OF 

not of man. To avoid the extravagance of dress, to 
walk with dignity and grace, to deal uprightly, to love 
mercy, to rely on the light within, to train the heart to 
courage and the head to understanding, became the 
chief aim of all the followers of Fox. The consequence 
was, they never bent the knee to the forms of worship, 
nor uncovered the head to the forms of fashion. To the 
Quaker, a virtuous, upright, and honorable laborer was 
of as much consequence, in the line of respect and the 
eyes of God, as the noblest lord of the realm. No out- 
ward show, no pageantry of church or court, could 
awaken him to respect. He looked within : there he 
felt the movings of the spirit, there he saw the image 
of his God, there he went in to worship. 

What must be the result of this religion? It must 
transmit self-reliance, fortitude, courage, and morality 
to the individual, and a sympathy for mankind which 
will grant the equality of rights, and produce a con- 
tempt for outward show, for outward forms and cere- 
monies. These characteristics will be transmitted to 
children's children, and democracy is born into a race 
of men before they know it, or before they know how 
or why. But here an effect must not be taken for a 
cause. It was the democratic principle abroad in the 
world which produced the Quaker religion, not this re- 
ligion which produced it, and this religion became after- 
ward an engine for thrusting democracy more deeply 
into the constitution of man. It had a work to do, 
and it did it by inheritance. It was the democracy of 
Cromwell, " that accomplished President of England," 
tvhich could sympathize with the religion of Fox, 
^/<rllich could see no wrong in the man, and which could 



THOMAS PAINE'S LIFE. 281 

protect him" from persecution. On the other hand, it 
was the religion of Penn, which would insult the pride 
of nobles by not uncovering itself, and bowing in the 
presence of royalty. 

Now, every religion has a birth, growth, culmina- 
tion, and subsecpient decay. It culminates in the pro- 
duction of some great man, who represents, and at the 
same time transcends, the causes which produced him, 
and who afterward abandons the religion which gave 
him birth. It has then fulfilled its work, and will 
eventually die. Jesus of Nazareth was the fulfillment 
of the Jewish religion; Luther, of the Catholic. The 
minor religions obey the same law. Unitarianism cul- 
minated in Theodore Parker; Quakerism, in Thomas 
Paine. At the culminating point, the typical child 
which is born, grows up, and comes out from or tramples 
upon the religion which produced him, and is called a 
" come-outer," a '^ protester," an " image-breaker," or 
an ^^nfidel." But he has been produced by causes over 
which he had no control, and is the result for which 
they existed. With him the religion declines, and 
eventually will expire. 

The Quaker religion culminated on the 29th of Jan- 
uary, 1737, in the little town of Thetford, and county 
of Norfolk, England, in the birth of Thomas Paine. 
Here Nature deserted her connection with the meeting, 
and took up her abode in the soul of the child. She 
has concentrated herein the democracy of centuries, and 
the special forces of a hundred years. The great prin- 
ciples of democracy have all been gathered here, and 
organized into a power which will move the world. 

Nature has also given a hardy physical constitu- 



282 GRAND OUTLINES OF 

tion, without corruption of blood or bodily disease, and 
this health of body shall carry him safe through the 
three-score and ten, with a fraction of years to spare. 
Let us now follow the lines of his life. 

A religious antagonism betw^een father and mother, 
both before and after his birth, strengthened the child's 
mind, for we grow strong only through antagonism. 
But he inclined to the Quaker principles of the fether, 
who had him privately named, and did not suffer him 
to be baptized, though he was afterward confirmed by 
a bishop, through the influence of an aunt. But the 
outward acts of omission or commission, by priest or 
parent, counted nothing in the life of the child ; for he 
had thoughts of his own as soon as old enough to reflect, 
and he had great gifts of inspiration, for there came to 
him thoughts ^' wliich would bolt into the mind of their 
own accord.'' Of this intuition or inspiration he says: 
^'I have always made it a rule to treat those voluntary 
visitors with civility, taking care to examine, as well 
as I was able, if they were worth entertaining, and it 
is from them I have acquired almost all the knowledge 
that I have." Here those inherited principles, the re- 
sult of previous ages of thought, concentrated within 
the child's mind, began to teach him, and he listened to 
their instruction at an early age. ^^I well remember, 
when about seven or eight years of age," says he, 
" hearing a sermon read by a relation of mine, who was 
a great devotee of the Ghurch [not of tlie Quaker meet- 
ing], upon the subject of what is called redemption by 
the death of the son of God. After the sermon was 
ended, I went Into the garden, and as I was going down 
the garden steps, for I perfectly recollect the spot, I 



THOMAS PAINE' S LIFE. 283 

revolted at the recollection of what I had heard, and 
thought to myself that it was making God Almighty 
act like a passionate man, that killed his son w^ien he 
could not revenge himself in any other way; and, as I 
was sure a man would be hanged that did such a thing, 
I could not see for what purpose they preached such 
sermons/' Here the young child's mind was shocked, 
and the " voice of God " within taught him much wis- 
dom — more than he could get in all the sermons of the 
bishops. 

His father, from Quaker principles, gave him moral 
instruction which never left him in after life. He sent 
him also, to a grammar school, where he learned some 
Latin and became acquainted with the subject matter 
of all the Latin books used in school; but this was 
clandestinely done, as the Quakers were opposed to the 
books in w^iich the language was taught. He says he 
did not study Latin for the above reason, and because 
he had no taste for it. But at school and at home he 
gained a useful stock of learning, ^Hhe bent of his mind 
being to science." 

But when the lad was thirteen he was taken from 
school, as it had long been too heavy a tax upon his 
father, and he was put to work in the shop as stay- 
maker. He enters into full sympathy with his father, 
and works by his .side three years. The '^^good 
father," as he afterward calls him, pays out no more 
for the son's education ; he has already been "sorely 
pressed " for this purpose. 

But during these three years at the stay-making 
business, many thoughts have " bolted into his mind," 
strange " voluntary visitors," talking of war, the army 



284 GRAND O UTLINES OF 

and navy. These thoughts have been "heated by the 
false heroism ^^ of his former master, and have set the 
lad's mind on fire, burning up all peace and content- 
m"ent. So in the year 1753, a little the rise of sixteen, 
he began to carve out his own fortune by going to sea 
in the privateer, " King of Prussia." The " good 
father '^ must have "thought him lost,'' but this was a 
phantom of the imagination in both father and son. 
There is a principle in him which shall hold him steady 
on land and sea. Restless and venturesome, driven by 
a force he wots not of^ the little island of Britain could 
not confine him, much less his father's shop. Here he 
satisfies the war spirit, and tinges his skeptical mind 
with a slight shade of sailors' superstition. Yet 
with this adventure of "false heroism against him " 
in setting out in life, he passes through a schooling 
with the world which shall make for him mightily in 
the end. He never considered this beginning in his 
favor, and has said but little about it. I can not find 
out how long he lived on the sea, but he turns up at 
Sandwich five or six years afterward as master stay- 
maker. Here he married to Mary Lambert, a young 
woman of much personal wortli, who, dying a year 
afterward, leaves a shade on his mind for life. 

But his employment did not suit the turn of his 
mind, and near the close of 1763 he entered the employ 
of government as exciseman. For a faithful perform- 
ance of his duty he was dismissed from this office, 
because the impartial performance of that duty would 
expose him to the censure of the power which invested 
him with office. I say for a faithful performance of his 
duty he was dismissed, and for these reasons I say it: 



THOMAS PAINE' S LIFE. 285 

1. When he is restored to the same office afterward 
upon his petition are these words, " No complaint of the 
least dishonesty or intemperance appeared against me." 
And so it was not for a dereliction of duty. 

2. Mr. Paine was a man of uncommon abilities, and 
it could not be for want of capacity. 

3. Excise officers were compelled sometimes to violate 
the law to favor the nobility and the court of the realm, 
or suffer the penalty of dismissal. See Vale's Life of 
Paine, p. 19. 

Honest and capable he has wounded the corrupt 
heart of the government. Too proud to retract, too 
honest to confess, he is turned out of office to brood 
over his offense. The government has also stabbed 
him to the heart, and the stab reaches to the most 
tender chords, his personal pride, his honor. This sets 
on fire his whole nature, yet darkly secretive it becomes 
molten lava in •his own breast. It will some day burst 
forth a consuming fire. ^^ Vengeance is mine," says the 
war-spirit within him. "Bide thy time," says caution. 
"Keep thy own council," says secretiveness. He has 
now an object in view, his resolution is made. 

"I will strike the dagger to the heart of profligate 
lords and courtiers. I will trample on the pride of 
kings, and fortified with that proud integrity, that 
disdain to triumph or to yield, I will advocate the 
rights of man." He now steps forth to begin his lifers 
work. 

He waits not long to brood over his miseries, but 
immediately sets off for London to inform the mind. 
A little the rise of twenty-eight he enters fully into 
the study of the natural sciences, and teaches in an 



286 GRAND OUTLINES OF 

academy to defray expenses. He attends the philo- 
sophical lectures of Mr. Martin and Ferguson, and be- 
comes acquainted with Dr. Bevis, the astronomer and 
member of the Royal Society. He made himself mas- 
ter of the globes and orrery, and acquired a knowledge 
of natural philosophy , a term which then took in a 
wide field of science. We find him well acquainted 
with chemistry, and also the higher mathematics. Here 
he doubtless studied French, for afterward we find 
when called from an active life to visit France he 
could read but not speak the language. Yet this, as 
well as rhetoric and law, and many other branches of 
learning, he could acquire while in the employ of gov- 
ernment. 

It is evident that while at London this year he 
threw his whole soul into study. 

How easily he could have risen to preferment in any 
branch of natural science must have been well known 
to himself when coming in (^ontact with these great 
minds of his age. But he has other work on hand. 

There are many reasons for concluding he became 
acquainted with Franklin this year, among them these 
five : 

1. Because he was eager to cultivate the acquaintance 
of great men of science, and Franklin, then in London, 
stood at the head of all. 

2. Franklin was easy of access to the friends of 
learning. 

3. Mr. Paine would be brought in hearty sympathy 
with the representative of the new world, who was at 
court) to represent the rights of man. 

4. At this very time, Feb. 3, 1766, when we know 



THOMAS PAINE'S LIFE, 287 

Mr. Paine was attending to bis studies and cultivating 
the acquaintance of the learned, Dr. Franklin was 
brought more conspicuously before the English nation 
than ever before, or thereafter, by undergoing an ex- 
amination in the House of Commons upon the policy 
of repealing the Stamp Act; and never were the great 
talents of this great man exhibited so fully and favora- 
bly as then. 

5. Mr. Paine says : " The favor of Dr. Franklin's 
friendship I possessed in England [and friendship with 
Mr. Paine means time to prove it\, and my introduction 
to this part of the world was through his patronage.^' 
Patronage means to aid or promote a design. This 
design, and this friendship formed upon which it was 
founded, would take some few years with both of these 
men, for they were both secretive, reserved, and non- 
committal, slow in forming attachments, and extremely 
cautious in the selection of friends. " The first founda- 
tion of friendship,^' says Junius, " is not the power of 
conferring benefits, but the equality with which they 
are received and may be returned. 

Mr. Paine now makes application to be restored to 
the office from which he was dismissed. On his peti- 
tion was written: ^^ July 4th, 1766; to be restored 
on a proper vacancy.'' The Foueth of July is 
ominous. Great events are in store for this young 
man within the next ten years. He quits the society 
of the learned and the halls of learning, and goes down 
at the most hopeful and ambitious period of life into 
this '^inferior office of the revenue" to serve for the 
'^ petty pittance of less than fifty pounds a year." Does 
he go then to satisfy his taste for learning, or to get 



288 GRAND OUTLINES OF 

rich? No; but to reach the object of his ambition. 
He goes there to spy out the meanness^ the corruption, 
the viHainy, the abandoned profligacy of the British 
Government. 

The British Government has now a masked enemy 
who is coming in and going out at the nation's doors, 
not a spy upon her liberties, but her villainies, a foe to 
the one and a friend to the other. 

But he has not forsaken his studies, he is just enter- 
ing upon them. Taking up English history he makes 
it a study, which becomes the history of the civilized 
world, for it reaches out into Spain, France, Austria, 
Prussia, Russia, America, India, and Rome. Mr. 
Paine followed its lines into all countries. He also 
made a study of her laws and the principles of lier con- 
stitution, and read the French commentators thereon, 
at the same time he had an eye to politics and the per- 
sonal history of her living public men. For three 
years and a half, together with his public duties, he 
labored to lay a foundation for a long and active lit- 
erary life. 

Do you ask how I know this? I answer, because 
when he came to America he was thus accomplished, 
and when he went into the excise office he was not. 

It is now six years since he first entered the employ 
of government, one year of which time he spent in the 
arts and sciences, and nearly four as student, officer, 
and detective for the sons of freedom throughout the 
world. He is, by nature, a detective of tlie highest 
order. He has formed the friendship of Benjamin 
Franklin, who, at the court, is also a detective, and 
what he knows of America and the English court shall 



THOMAS PAINE' S LIFE. 289 

now be made known. He has written ^^ numberless 
trifles'^ for the public press to get his hand in, and now, 
having a definite plan formed, and a noble object in view, 
he opens the new .year of 1769, with something Avhich 
indeed is new. It was the first Letter of ^^ Junius," 
named after Junius Brutus, wlio stabbed Csesar for 
having usurped the liberties of Rome. Junius thrust 
home his dagger. This stab went to the heart of 
a rotten court, and, since Cromwell, it was the greatest 
thing that ever happened to England. The people 
read it with mingled sentiments of fear and hope; the 
partisan read it with fear and rage; the scholar, with 
feelings of respect; the courtesan, with pallor on his 
cheek, and trembling In his limbs; and the king and 
ministers, with sentiments of torture and frenzy. But 
when Franklin took It up, with what feelings of hope 
and pride did he read and re-read the paragraphs In 
regard to the colonies, which began with this sentence: 
*' A series of inconsistent measures has alienated the 
colonies from their duty as subjects, and from their 
natural affection to their common country." This is 
the key note to the Declaration of Indejiendence, which 
shall appear seven years afterward. The dagger was 
driven to the hilt. Paine long afterward said : '' The 
cause of America made me an author." 

Three years, to a day, and he is Junius no more. 
His object was revolution on British soil, the ministers 
brought to trial, and the king deposed. He called for 
a leader In vain — -he wrote against fate. But the work 
must go on. He consecrates lilmself anew to the cause; 
he dedicates his life to the good of man. Friend, 
kindred, wife, and the dear, native land, weigh lightly 



290 GRAND OUTLINES OF 

in the balance against the ^' business of a ivorlcV He 
leaves them all. His mind has been liberated from the 
prejudices of an island by the study of astronomy, and 
a life on the sea, and schooled by disappointment in po- 
litical strife, he turns his face to the West. 

He has left his second wife; parted with her forever. 
Mr. Paine was a man of strong personal attachment; 
he had deep and lasting affection. But what was wife 
to the '' business of a worldj^ .Long after this separ- 
ation, in his old age, after he had gone through two 
revolutions, the American and the French, Mrs. Paine, 
though not agreeing with Thomas in religious opinions, 
on hearing him disrespectfully spoken of because he 
had written the Age of Reason, indignantly left the 
company of his revilers. And Mr. Paine, when asked 
why did you leave your wife, would respond : " I had 
a cause ; it is no business of any body.^^ True to her 
during life, and she to him, there is more in this than 
has been revealed. 

But before he leaves England there is a definite 
plan formed, it is revolution and reconciliation ; but 
if not reconciliation, it is revolution and independence. 
Tyranny shall be destroyed at all hazards. He pre- 
pares himself for war, " and if the English Govern- 
ment wins in the contest,^^ says Paine, " she wins from 
me my life." He leaves all his world^s goods for the 
support of his wife, his capital stock is his pen. Frank- 
lin understands it all. He knows full well this son of 
a Quaker, this Junius of the quill, and he feels the need 
of him for America's sake, and that scientific head of 
his thinks soundly on the work which shall tell for the 
ages. Franklin was tiien acknowledged to be the 



THOMAS PAINWS LIFE. 291 

greatest man in the world^ as he was ; and the same 
judgment which never led him wrong, and which 
made for him renown, prononnced also on the character 
and abilities of Thomas Paine. These two men per- 
fectly agreed in politics and religion, and this covers 
the whole realm of opinion. Their origin and their 
leading traits of character were the same ; secretive, 
cantious, courageous, and proud of heart, witty and 
sarcastic, deeply read in the history of the world and 
of the human heart, having come out of the loins of 
toil and the lap of poverty, the history of their lives 
blend and conspire to unite their affections and direct 
their labors. What these tw^o men shall do, the world 
is yet too stupid to think about. But their plan is made 
in England, and under the patronage of the one the 
other is introduced to America. 

If you truly believe Benjamin Franklin to be a fool, 
let me tell you how you can demonstrate it. Prove 
to the world that Thomas Paine began his literary life 
in America, and that Franklin intrusted the greatest 
work of a nation, and the business of a world to an 
obscure English exciseman, without previous history or 
character, and your point is made. Yet this is just 
what chronologists would have us believe ; but history 
delves beneath recorded events. 

Franklin was then an old man, he had almost 
reached his three-score years and ten ; Paine was thirty- 
one years and twelve days the younger. Franklin has 
fifteen years of life and labor before him- yet ; Paine thir- 
ty-four. The young scion of Democracy is growing up 
from the same root by the side of the old stalk. Here 
youth supports old age, and the boughs interlock, and 
19 



292 GRAND OUTLINEiS OF 

they shall thus stand firm, supported by each other 
against the terrible shocks which are yet to come dur- 
ing the 'Hiurricane months'^ of political revolution. 
^' I am the sole depository of my own secret, and it 
shall perish with me/^ said Junius; but Franklin had 
been taught of nature, and the secret was kept. 

Near the close of the year 1774, Junius lands in 
America, and begins to dwell in the capital of the colo- 
nies, Philadelphia. Many things conspired to take him 
there: it was the Quaker city of brotherly love; it was 
Franklin's home; and, above all, the Continental Con- 
gress sat there. 

Immediately, that is, within two months after land- 
ing, he is employed as editor of the Pennsylvania Maga- 
zine. He did not write as editors do, but his contribu- 
tions appeared over the signature of AxLANTicus^a 
name which, like Junius, was the shadow of the writer. 
From the first he wielded a mighty pen, and his contri- 
butions were noticed and highly commended. The fol- 
lowing extract is from one of his first efforts in America, 
and consequently stands almost a year closer to Junius 
than Common Sense. As it shows the hand of a mas- 
ter, long trained at the art, I give it here, as a perfect 
sample of Junius : 

" Though nature is gay, polite, and generous abroad, 
she is sullen, rude, and niggardly at home. Peturn the 
visit, and she admits you with all the suspicion of a mi- 
ser, and all the reluctance of an antiquated beauty re- 
tired to replenish her charms. Bred up in antediluvian 
notions, she has not yet acquired the European taste of 
receiving visitants In her dressing-room ; she locks and 
bolts up her private recesses with extraordinary care, as 



THOMAS FAINWS LIFE. 293 

if not only resolved to preserve her hoards, but to con- 
ceal her age, and hide the remains of a face tliat was 
young and lovely in the days of Adam. He that would 
view nature in her undress, and partake of her internal 
treasures, must proceed with the resolution of a robber, 
if not a ravisher. She gives no invitation to follow her 
to the caverns ; the external earth makes no proclama- 
tion of the internal stores, but leaves to chance and in- 
dustry the discovery of the whole. In such gifts as na- 
ture can annually recreate she is noble and profuse, and 
entertains the whole world with the interest of her for- 
tunes, but watches over the capital with the care of a 
miser. Her gold and jewels lie concealed in the earth 
in caves of utter darkness; the hoards of wealth, 
heaps upon heaps, mould in the chests, like the riches 
of the necromancer's cell. It must be very pleasant to 
an adventurous speculatist to make excursions into these 
gothic regions, and in his travels he may possibly come 
to a cabinet, locked up in some rocky vault, whose 
treasures shall reward his toil, and enable him to shine, 
on his return, as splendidly as nature herself." 

The massacre of Lexington takes place the 19th of 
April, this year. Paine had been but a few months in 
America. Franklin is in the middle of the Atlantic, 
on his way home. He arrives in May, and the Decla- 
ration of Independence is now in existence, but only con- 
ceived in thought. It will have to bide its time, locked 
up there in the brain; besides, events are yet to happen 
which sliall be put in it, and the country is not yet pre- 
pared for it. The people have no unanimity of senti- 
ment. Congress is weak and trifling ; it wants recon- 



294 GRAND OUTLINES OF 

ciliation^ and permits the British to land troops^ to de- 
stroy the liberties of the people, and to steal the powder 
of the colonies. The country must be roused to senti- 
ments of patriotism, and the magazines must be filled 
with powder, to support the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence, before it appears to the world. 
' Mr. Paine now sets about the work. He Avishes the 
American people to be consistent — to not talk of liberty 
without acting it out; and he gives them ^^ Serious 
Tlioughts^' on negro slavery to think about. It is a 
feeler, sent out to test public sentiment, and to put the 
people to thinking in the right direction. He struck — 
as he always did — when the iron was hot; and, between 
the hammer and the iron, sparks were emitted which 
kept burning in America for ninety years. His words 
were : ^' Stop the importation of negroes, soften the hard 
fate of those already here, and in time procure their free- 
dom.^' He believed that the justice of Heaven would 
some day blot it out. This piece brought Mr. Paine 
many friends and high hopes. Common Sense shortly 
afterward came from the press, to stir up revolution in 
the hearts of the people. 

He now turns his attention to chemistry, experiments 
in the art of making saltpeter cheaply, publishes his re- 
searches, and organizes a company to gratuitously sup- 
ply the public magazines with powder. Pie is boldly 
working out his plan. He gives Common Sense to each 
colony by copyright, and the poor, ignorant dolts of that 
age and this age wonder why he did not make himself 
rich in the sale of it. The fools must learn that he was 
making patriots, not pounds and pence, to serve his pur- 
pose and plan. Franklin smiles at the work as it goes 



THOMAS PAINE' S LIFE. 295 

on, for to effect a revolution the country will be sorely 
in need of powder and patriotism. But "Washington 
they can rely on for this latter. When others fail 
whose mouths were always open to profess liberty, he 
shall stand firm ; when they desert the cause, he shall 
strike the harder and more nobly. 

W^hen war begins public sentiment changes quickly. 
The American people are now ready for war, made so 
within a few months. Congress comes together with 
more strength in its back-bone, more pluck in its heart; 
and, on the 7th of June, a committee of five is 
appointed to draft a Declaration of Independence, 
Thomas Paine makes a concise reproduction of Com- 
mon Sense; constructs it upon mechanical principles, 
so that it will first convince the understandinp-, and, 
having entered the head, will soon reach the heart, for 
it is made on purpose to storm the passions of men. 
He privately hands it to Thomas Jefferson. It is quite 
fortunate that he was chairman of that committee. But 
in the act the honor of Thomas Paine is pledged for se- 
crecy; it is an honor without spot, and he locks up the 
act forever in his own breast with Junius. 

The Declaration is read on the streets amid cheers ; 
it is read in churches with thanksgiving and praise; it 
is read in the legislative halls of the states, and at the 
firesides of patriots; it is read in the camp of the sol- 
dier, and by officers to their battalions; it is proclaimed 
by the congress of the new nation, and from the house- 
tops to all mankind. It is the second child of a man 
who has on his hands the ^'^ business of A woeld." 

JN'ow let the nation buckle on its armor, and look 
forward to peace won only in blood. The Declaration 



296 GRAND O UTLINES OF 

of Independence is an easy thing compared with what 
is to come. We shall see this man's work in war. 

Washington is at the head of the army; John 
Adams, whose head is a perfect battery of war forces, 
is at the head of the board of war. Upon this man's 
of&ce depends more than any other in the nation, for he 
is Secretary of War, Mr. Paine has no office, no 
power of position, not known to the nation, nor to the 
world, for Common Sense was thought to be the pro- 
duction of Franklin or John Adams. Thomas Paine 
had great faith in Washington, not so much in Lee. 
John Adams distrusted Washington, and called him 
•^ a dolt,'' but put great confidence in Lee, an English 
deserter, and more than an American traitor. Paine 
never misjudged a man; John Adams never judged a 
man rightly. As colonies, this country has done much 
for independence ; as a nation, nothing. She is now to 
be tried. 

Paine enlists as a soldier with the '^ Flying Camp.'' 
The British fleet is repulsed from Charleston, S. C, 
and can not land her army of English, Scotch, and 
Hessians; but now, in August, she eifects a landing 
on Long Island. Washington is there with twenty 
thousand men with guns, but no soldiers in arms. He 
loses a battle on Long Island, and retreats therefrom. 
In October, he loses the battle of White Plains. In 
November, Fort Washington, with two thousand six 
hundred men, and our best cannon and arms are taken 
by the British command, and Fort Lee falls, leaving 
commissary and quartermasters' stores and cannon in 
the hands of the British. Washington now retreats 
through the Jerseys, the British hard after. As they 



THOMAS PAINmS LIFE. 297 

retreat, Paine writes at night on a drum-head. In 
nineteen days, " often in sight and within cannon-shot 
of each other, the rear of the one employed in pulling 
down bridges, and the van of the other in building 
them up," Washington effected a march of ninety 
miles. The weather was severe, the roads bad, and his 
army without blankets, tents, or provisions. In four 
months his army dwindles from twenty thousand down 
to less than three thousand. In the meantime, the 
Indians have been committing ravages on the frontier, 
and in the heart of the country a great party demand 
absolute submission. The Quakers oppose the war. 
There is no money to pay soldiers, nor clothing to put 
on them ; they are poorly armed, and there is but little 
powder to put in the guns. Congress has only voted 
for battalions, and there is an enemy " in the nation's 
bow^els '^ that votes can not resist. After Congress had 
voted for battalions, it took its flight from Philadel- 
phia to Baltimore, destroying public credit and throw- 
ing upon Washington the responsibility of directing 
all things relative to the operations of the war. The 
fate of the nation rests in the balance; the beam is not 
equally poised, the nation is going down. Washing- 
ton is beyond the Delaware ; the Hessians are at Tren- 
ton. He makes a stand tu look into the faces of but 
"twenty-four hundred men strong enough to be his 
companions.'^ And on the 20th of December, he tells 
a voting and cowardly Congress : "Ten days more will 
put an end to this army." These are " black days." 

Where now are the hopes of America ? Where are 
the committeemen who took the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence into Congress? Franklin has gone to 



298 GBAND O UTLINES OF 

France to work for the nation ; JeiFerson has refused 
to go with him^ and is at liome in Virginia safe with 
his slaves. But where is John Adams^ who said that 
Jefferson had stolen his ideas from him to put into 
the Declaration of Independence? Where is the chief 
representative from New England^ this " Colossus ^' 
of debate, this chief of the war committee? Where is 
John Adams in this darkest hour of his country's 
trial? Pie has deserted her; he went home on the 
13th of October after the first reverse, and is '^ brave 
in his home by the sea/' but will not come back till 
four months are past, and Washington makes himself 
famous. The poor dupe to his ])assions. Lee he 
loved, Washington he hated ; a patriot this, a traitor 
that. But where is the man who has on hand the 
business of a world f We shall see. In this midnight 
of the revolution he has been w^riting scmiething. He 
has been in the army as a soldier, but has found time 
to wa^ite. It is his first crisis, and it runs thus : 

'^ These are the times that try men's souls. The 
summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this 
crisis shrink from the service of his country; but he 
that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man 
and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily con- 
quered, yet we have this consolation left with us, that 
the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph.'' 
He produces one of his most masterly pieces. He 
appeals to Heaven, and prays for some Jersey maid, 
like Joan of Arc, to spirit up her countrymen. He 
deals the king and Lord Howe heavy blows, deftly laid 
on ; and of the tory, he says : ^^ Good God ! what is he ? 
Every tory is a coward ; for servile, slavish, self-in- 



THOMAS PAINE'S LIFE. 299 

terested fear is the foiyiclatioii of toryisiu/^ Having 
reviewed the enemies of the country he then '' turns 
with the warm ardor of a friend to those who have 
nohly stood and are determined to stand the matter 
out." . . . " Let them call me rebel and welcome," 
says he, '^ I feel no concern from it ; but I should suffer 
the miseries of devils were I to make a wdiore of my 
soul by swearing allegiance to one whose character is 
that of a sottish, stupid, stubborn, worthless, brutish 
man." In this he also pays a tribute to Washington, 
in which he says : " God has given him a mind that 
can flourish upon care." ^^The heart that feels not 
now is dead, the blood of his children will curse his 
cowardice, who shrinks back now." ^' I love the man 
that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength by 
distress and grow brave by reflection. ^Tis the busi- 
ness of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is 
firm will pursue his principle unto death." ^' By per- 
severance and fortitude we have the prospect of a 
glorious issue; by cowardice and submission, the sad 
choice of a variety of evils — a ravaged country, a de- 
populated city, habitations without safety, and slavery 
without hope; our homes turned into barracks and 
bawdy houses for Hessians, and a future race to pro- 
vide for, whose fathers we shall doubt of. Look on 
this picture and weep over it! and if there yet remains 
one thoughtless wretch who believes it not, let him 
suffer it unlamented." 

This little pamphlet was dated Dec. 23, 1776. It 
was read at the head of the regiments which made up 
the small remnant of Washington's army. On Christmas 
night, Washington recrosses the Delaware, and strikes 



300 GRAND O UTLINES OF 

the Hessians at Trenton the n^t morning. His horse 
is shot under him, but he wins his first battle and takes 
nearly a thousand prisoners, eight cannon, and twelve 
hundred small arms. A few days afterward, Washing- 
ton struck the British at Princeton, who lost in killed 
and wounded two hundred, and of prisoners the Ameri- 
cans took two hundred and thirty. Many of Wash- 
ington's best soldiers being now quite barefoot and 
badly clad, and the winter weather severe, he closed 
the first campaign made glorious for freedom by the 
pen of that man who had undertaken the ^^ business of 
a world.'' 

But in the fall and winter before this his pen was 
not idle. The new Constitution of Pennsylvania had 
distracted the State, and Paine tries to bring order out 
of chaos. He is not unmindful of the Quakers, who 
will not obey the teachings of their religion and re- 
main neutral, and it is a severe chastisement he gives 
them, for he talks to them as one having authority. 

Five weeks after the first campaign was ended John 
Adams came back to Congress, not willing to be called 
"a sunshine patriot^' in his home by the sea. But it 
was not cowardice which made this chief of the war 
committee desert his post in the most trying months 
of his country — it was downright meanness of the tem- 
per. I mention him again here because in April this 
year, 1777, he makes a motion that Thomas Paine be 
made secretary to the committee on foreign affairs. 
Mr. Paine went on duty. This was, doubtless, brought 
about by Benjamin Franklin, who is now in France 
to secure the favors of the government, and as secrecy 
is the success of diplomacy, Franklin wants Paine to 



THOMAS PAINE'S LIFE. 301 

receive his dispatches, for in him he can trust. It 
was while in this office, as detective, that he was 
made acquainted with the misconduct of Silas Deaiie. 
The stores which Mr. Deane obtained from France 
were a gift to this country, but he afterward brought 
in a demand for them, fraudulently pretending that he 
had purchased them. This was in December, 1778. 
On the 29th of this month Mr. Paine began a series 
of letters in the Pennsylvania Packet entitled, "Com- 
mon Sense to the Public on Mr. Deane's Aifairs.^^ He 
did this to protect the Government, and took the re- 
sponsibility upon himself to save other parties. He 
began by saying of Mr. Deane, ''as he rose like a 
rocket he would fall like a stick." Three letters had 
made their appearance when Mr. Paine was commanded 
to appear before Congress. The President inquired of 
him, '^ Did you write this piece?" ^' I am the author 
of that piece," responded Paine. "And this? and 
this ? " "I am." " You may retire." The Congress 
tried to dismiss him. It was a tie vote. The next 
day, the 8th of January, 1779, Mr. Paine wrote to 
Congress as follows : " As I can not consistently with 
my character as a freeman, submit to be censured un- 
heard, therefore to preserve that character and main- 
tain that right, I think it my duty to resign the office 
of secretary of the committee for foreign affairs, and 
I do hereby resign the same." 

He now opens up on Silas Deane a terrible battery of 
invective, and exposed the fraud so completely, that 
Congress became ashamed of supporting him, and Mr. 
Deane absconded to France, and afterward died in Eng- 
land, it is said, of remorse, after taking poison. But 



302 GRAND O UTLINES OF 

Mr. Paine became the "victim of his integrity, ^^ to save 
the money of the government, which the soldiers were 
sorely in need of, and to bravely push forward the 
" business of a world.^^ 

But, during this time, he has also written Nos. II, 
III, and IV of The Crisis. No. II is to Lord Howe, 
dated January 13, 1777. This is one of his finest 
pieces of satire, which is also filled with sentiments of 
patriotism, courage, and hope. These periodical pro- 
ductions are among his best efforts, and they were con- 
tinued till the war ended. There are sixteen in all. 
They were written to produce patriotism in the hearts 
of the people. No. VIII, I think, is one of the finest 
productions I ever read. It is addressed to the people 
of England, and is the sad walling of Junius. 

In December of 1778, he puts forth the proposition 
to apply steam to navigation — the first thought of the 
kind in America, which came in advance of the fact 
about eight years, and in this America was the first in 
the world. 

Mr. Paine offers, at this time, to be one of a party 
of four or five to set fire to the British fleet in the Del- 
aware. But the three men like him can not be found. 

In 1779 he is appointed clerk of the Pennsylvania 
Assembly. 

In 1780 he is dissuaded and prevented from going to 
England to get out, in secret, a publication to stir up 
revolution there. The fates will not permit him to trj 
Junius over again. It is as well. 

But the spring of this year was marked with an ac- 
cumulation of misfortunes to our army. The defense 
of Charleston had failed, and, besides this, there was nc 



THOMAS PAINE' S LIFE, 303 

money to pay the soldiers. A general gloom rested on 
the whole country^ patriotism was at its ebb, and peti- 
tions were abundant to exempt the people from paying 
taxes. Government had neither money nor credit, and 
things had come to a 'Ulead loch?^ Washington wrote 
to the Assembly of Pennsylvania. The doors were shut, 
and it fell to Thomas Paine, the clerk, to read the 
letter. 

^Qn this letter the naked truth of things was un- 
folded. Among other informations, the general said 
that, notwithstanding his confidence in the attachment 
of the army to the cause of the country, the distresses 
of it, from the want of every necessary which men 
could be destitute of, had arisen to such a pitch that 
the appearances of mutiny and discontent were so 
strongly marked on the countenances of the army, that 
he dreaded the event of every hour.^^ 

After the letter was read, a despairing silence per- 
vaded the hall. J^obody spoke for a considerable time. 
At last a member of much fortitude arose and said: 
^' If the account in that letter is a true state of things, 
and we are in the situation there represented, it appears 
to me in vain to contend the matter any longer. We 
may as well give up the matter first as last.^^ Another 
man arose and said : "■ Well, well, do n't let the house 
despair ; if things are not so well as we wish, we must 
endeavor to make them better,^' and then moved an 
adjournment. 

What shall now be done? Where is the god of bat- 
tle, that he has deserted America? When all others 
fail, both in council and in war, who shall be able to 
cheer the heart and lift up the head of the nation? We 



304 GRAND O UTLINES OF 

shall see. Thomas Paine draws his salary; he writes a 
stirring appeal for a private subscription ; heads it with 
five hundred dollars^ "his mite, and will increase it as 
far as the last ability will enable him to go/' This 
subscription is to be a donation to carry on the war. 
In nine days the subscription "amounts to four hun- 
dred pounds hard money, and one hundred and one 
thousand three hundred and sixty pounds continental." 
The subscribers now meet and form a bank, with a 
capital basis of three hundred thousand pounds, real 
money, for the purpose of supplying the army ; and the 
country is once more saved by the man who has on his 
hands " the business of a worldJ^ 

It is now the university of Pennsylvania makes itself 
honorable and famous by conferring on Thomas Paine 
the degree of Master of Arts. It is in 1780 this is 
done, and on the Fourth of July. 

But more money must be had. A continental dollar 
is worth about one cent. "Hard money must be had,'' 
says Thomas Paine. But how shall it be obtained? 
By an appeal to the king of France. Paine now 
sets about the work. It is near the close of the year 
1780. He takes up the pen and undlsgulsedly states 
the true case of the nation, and requests that France, 
either as a subsidy or a loan, will supply the United 
States with a million sterling, and continue that supply 
annually during the war. This letter was addressed 
to Count Vergennes, the French minister of foreign 
affairs. Paine, as soon as he had written It, showed it 
to M. Marbols, secretary to the French minister. His 
reply was : " A onllllon sent out of a nation exhausts 
it more than ten millions spent in it." But nothing 



THOMAS PAINE'S LIFE. 305 

daunted he then took it to Ralph Isard, member of 
Congress from South Carolina. Isard said : " We will 
try and do something about it in Congress." Congress 
favored the letter, and it was thus made a memorial. 
But who shall now take it to France^ and in person 
represent the situation and demand assistance, as set 
forth in this letter? Paine had his eye on the man 
when he went to the member from South Carolina witii 
his letter. It was one of this state's noblest sons, Col. 
eJohn Laurens, aid to AYashington ; for Paine loved the 
Laurenses, both father and son. Through Washington 
this son was named as agent. But he said : '^ No, 
appoint Colonel Hamilton.*' Congress refused. Now 
young Laurens states his case to Paine. He said be 
was acquainted with the military difficulties, but not 
at all acquainted with political affairs, nor with th.e 
resources of the country, '^ but if you will go with me, 
I will accept.'' Of course Paine will go, and that, too, 
without pay, never expecting a cent for it. Paine had 
planned his work well, he has got his man, the bravest 
heart of the land, and we shall now see the boldest act 
of diplomacy on record. For five weeks Paine had 
been about this work, and about the first of February, 
1781, they sail for France. As soon as they reach 
Paris, Laurens promptly reports his arrival and busi- 
ness to Vergennes. It is in vain. "The formalities 
of court and the self-complaisancy of the minister, who 
would not be hurried, baffled him for more than two 
months." But this young son of war has a spirit to 
dare and a tutor to direct — who knows from long 
experience the stuff kings are made of He will 
not be trifled with by subordinates ; he will appeal 



306 GRAND O UTLINJES OF 

directly to the king. He declares this to the minister, 
who responds, '^ I am confounded with your audacity.'^ 
This is more than Franklin would dare, who is there 
at court. There comes '^ a public lever. ^^ Louis XVI 
is there, and so is young Laurens, in uniform, his 
sword at his side. Now act v/ell thy part, a nation's 
life dwells in thy words. He is presented to the king, 
who only expects the passing formalities of an intro- 
duction. But Laurens speaks: ^^I am just from the 
army of Washington. I know well its condition, it is 
fully set forth in this memorial ;'' and then touching 
his sword, he adds, with animation, "Unless speedy 
succor is sent to my country, the weapon I now wear 
at my side as the ally of your majesty, might be drawn 
as the subject of Great Britain against you and France.'' 
The king was struck dumb ; but soon rallied himself 
and replied briefly, but favorably. He took the 
memorial, the money was granted, and Paine accom- 
panied Laurens home with $2,500,000 in silver. The 
army is paid, fed, and clothed ; Yorktown is attacked 
upon the strength of it ; Cornwallis surrenders, and the 
British power is broken in this country forever, through 
those great causes put in motion and faithfully sustained 
by the man who had on his hands ^^ the business of 

A WOEILD." 

The great work of Thomas Paine is now nearly 
clone in America, but mighty things are yet to be 
done for the world. The next year he writes his famous 
letter to the Abbe Raynal, and the Crisis, which guides 
the nation to honor. A few years of rest, in which 
he writes his Dissertation on Government, and other 
pieces; is elected a member of the Philosophical Society, 



THOMAS PAINE' S LIFE. 307 

receives the hospitalities of Washington, and three 
thousand dollars from Congress for his ten years services 
in America, and he sails for France where he sees the 
fires of revolution beginning to kindle. 

But he has taken care to provide wisdom for his 
country before he quits her shores. His far-reaching 
eye sees that a Federal Constitution will have to be 
formed for the states, and in 1786 he is careful to in- 
corporate into his Dissertation on Government a Dec- 
laration of Rights. In this Declaration of Rights 
lies the foundation of the republic, and although not 
prefixed to the Federal Constitution at the time it was 
formed and adopted, a complete synopsis of it was 
afterward added as the ten first amendments thereto. 
Franklin has also come home to labor awhile, now 
more than eighty years old ; and being chosen a dele- 
gate to the Federal Convention, Mr. Paine sailed for 
France the 16th of April, 1787, just a month before 
it convened. He has finished his work in America. 
This work he did faithfully and well. He is now 
fifty years old, and there are ten years of revolution- 
ary work, and twenty-two of life before him yet. 

He took with him to Paris the model of an ^Vo?^ 
bridge. He submits it to the Academy of Sciences. 
It is pronounced a success, if theory can be sustained 
by mathematical demonstration. He proposes an iron 
arch Avith a span of four hundred and eighty feet. 
But theory must be tested, and the next year he builds 
his bridge in an open field near Paddington, in Eng- 
land. Experiment said it was a success, but he got 
into gaol for debt on account of it. The bridge now 
spans the river Wear, at Sunderland. This iron arch 
20 



308 GRAND O UTLINES OF 

bridge was the first in the world. The principles are 
now seen in thousands of bridges in Europe and 
America; and if they could speak, each one would say: 
" I was born from the brain of Thomas Paine/^ 

Two American merchants assist him to pay his 
debts, and he gets out of an English gaol in time to go 
over to France to witness the taking of the Bastile, on 
the 14th of July, 1789. That ''high altar and castle 
of despotism^/ fell at the bidding of those republican 
principles which he had dedicated his life to teach and 
maintain. It was a most fitting and grand event 
when Lafayette gave to Thomas Paine the key to the 
Bastile to present to Washington. It is now thei prop- 
erty of this nation. 

Mr. Burke the next year writes his " Peflections '^ 
on the French Revolution, and Mr. Paine returns in 
November, 1790, to answer the publication. In 
March, the first part of '' The Rights of Man '' ap- 
peared for this purpose. It was dedicated to Washing- 
ton. In another year the second part appeared, 
dedicated to Lafayette. A hundred thousand copies 
of this work went into the hands of the people. It 
was translated into all the European languages, and 
was read by the poor and the rich, the high and the 
low ; it became the companion alike of the vassal and 
his lord. In this he says : " The peer is exalted into 
the man. Titles are but nicknames, and every nick- 
name is a title. The thing is perfectly harmless in 
itself, but it marks a sort of foppery in the 
human character which degrades it. It talks about 
its fine ribbon like a girl, and shows its garter like a 
child. A certain writer of antiquity says, ^ When I 



THOMAS PAINE'S LIFE. 309 

was a child I thought as a child, but when I became 
a man I put away childish things/ . . The insig- 
nificance of a senseless word like duke, count, or earl, 
has ceased to please, and as they outgrew the rickets, 
have despised the rattle. The genuine mind of man, 
thirsting for its native home society, contemns the gew- 
gaws that separate him from it. Titles are like circles 
drawn by the magician^s wand to contract the sphere 
of man's felicity. He lives immured within the bastile 
of a word, and surveys at a distance the envied life of 
man.^^ Aristocracy "is a law against every law of 
nature, and nature herself calls for its destruction. 
Establish family justice and aristocracy falls. By the 
aristocratical law of primogenitureship, in a family 
of six children five are exposed. Aristocracy has 
never but one child. The rest are begotten to be de- 
voured. They are thrown to the cannibal for prey, 
and the natural parent prepares the unnatural repast." 
. . . " By nature they are children, and by mar- 
riage they are heirs, but by aristocracy they are bas- 
tards and orphans.^^ 

"In taking up this subject,'^ he says, " I seek no 
recompense; I fear no consequences. Fortified with 
that proud integrity, that disdain to triumph or to 
yield, I will advocate the rights of man.'^ .... 
" Knowing my own heart, and feeling myself, as I now 
do, superior to all the skirmish of party, the inveteracy 
of interested or mistaken opponents, I answer not to 
falsehood or abuse." ..." Independence is my 
happiness, and I view things as they are, without re- 
gard to place or person. My country is the world, and 
my religion is to do good.^' 



310 GBAND OUTLINES OF 

Mr. Paine is now doing openly and boldly the work 
which Junius tried to do with less success. The same 
pen has now twenty years more experience; it has 
added wisdom, but lost a trifle of its vivacity ; yet it 
has lost none of its terrible satire. Never did Junius 
use secretly such severe language toward the king as 
Mr. Paine now openly writes. Of the crown, he says : 
^' It signifies a nominal office of a million a year, the 
business of which consists in receiving the money. 
Whether the person be wise or foolish, sane or insane, 
a native or a foreigner, matters not. The hazard to 
which this office is exposed in all countries, is not from 
any thing that can happen to the man, but from what 
may happen to the nation ; the danger of its coming to 
its senses. . . . When we speak of the Crown now 
it means nothing; it signifies neither a judge nor 
a general; besides which it is the laws that govern, and 
not the man/^ 

^' It is time that nations should be rational, and not 
governed like animals, for the pleasure of their riders. 
To read the history of kings, a man would be almost 
inclined to suppose that government consisted in stag 
hunting, and that every nation paid a million a year to 
the huntsman. Man ought to have pride or shame 
enough to blush at being thus imposed upon, and when 
he feels his proper character he will. ... It has 
cost England almost seventy millions sterling to main- 
tain a family imported from abroad, of very inferior 
capacity to thousands in the nation. No wonder that 
jails are crowded, and taxes and poor-rates increased. 
Under such systems nothing is to be looked for but' 
what has already happened; and, as to reformation. 



THOMAS PAINE' S LIFE. 311 

whenever it comes^ it must be from the nation, and not 
from the government." 

. In the above how one is reminded of Junius, when 
he says : ^^ The original fault is in the government/' 
and '^ there are many things which we ought to affirm 
can not be done by king, lords, and commons." " The 
ruin or prosperity of a state depends on the adminis- 
tration of its government." '^ Behold a nation over- 
whelmed with debt, her revenues wasted, her trade de- 
clining." That "a reasonable man can expect no 
remedy but poison, no relief but death." '' And that 
if an honest man were permitted to approach a king, 
it would be matter of curious speculation how he would 
be received," if the king himself had " spirit enough 
to bid him speak freely, and understanding enough to 
listen to him with attention." 

For the publication of this work in England many 
men were fined and imprisoned. Mr. Paine himself 
was tried and convicted, but having been elected a rep- 
resentative to the ]N"ational Assembly of France, by the 
Department of Calais, he left England in September, 
1792, and being afterward outlawed, never set foot on 
her soil again. Had it not been for this election to the 
National Assembly, he would have remained to contest 
in an English court the principles he had proclaimed. 
Twenty minutes after he left her shores forever, an or- 
der arrived at Dover, from which place he sailed, for 
his detention, but it was too late; there is yet a 
sublime deed to be done. 

At Calais, France embraced him, and a daughter of 
the New Republic placed in his hat the national cock- 
ade. Mr. Paine is now entering the dark days of his 



312 OBAND OUTLINES OF 

life. With what fortitude and manliness he shall pass 
through them we shall see. He takes his seat in the 
National Assembly. In this he addresses the people 
of France, and says; "I come not to enjoy repose. I 
commence my citizenship in the stormy hour of diffi- 
culties. Convinced that the cause of France is the 
CAUSE OF ALL MANKIND, and that liberty can not be 
purchased by a wish, I gladly share with you the dan- 
gers and honors necessary to success. . . . Let us 
now look calmly and confidently forward, and success 
is certain. It is no longer the paltry cause of kings, 
or of this or that individual, that calls France and her 
armies into action. It is the great cause of all. It 
is the establishment of a new era that shall blot despot- 
ism from the earth, and fix, on the lasting principles 
of peace and citizenship the great republic of man." 

France is declared a republic, and Mr. Paine is one 
of nine men to draft a new constitution. This work is 
done. In the meantime, charges are preferred against 
the king, and Louis XVI is brought to trial. Mr. 
Paine voted for the trial. The king is found guilty, 
and condemned to die. But he has now a friend in 
Thomas Paine. He speaks against the death penalty, 
and says : 

" Citizen President : My hatred and abhorrence 
of monarchy are sufficiently known ; they originate in 
principles of reason and conviction, nor, except with 
life, can they ever be extirpated; but my compassion 
for the unfortunate, whether friend or enemy, is equally 
lively and sincere." He then reviews the causes which 
brought him to trial, and pictures the deplorable condi- 
tion he is in — condemns the constituent assembly, 



TII02IAi> PAINE' S LIFE, 313 

rather than the unfortunate prisoner, and then asks: 
'' What shall be done with this man?^' He has now 
taken his own life in his hands, when he proffers to the 
King of France an asylum in America. Besides, he 
has a duty to perform for the United States, which now 
he offers his own life to fulfill. He has not forgotten 
the great feat of youiig Laurens, when he touched his 
sword in presence of this same king, demanding that 
aid which made his country free and independent, and 
which was granted. He therefore says : " It is- to 
France alone, I know, that the United States of Amer- 
ica owe that support which enabled them to shake off 
the unjust and tyrannical yoke of Britain. The ardor 
and zeal which she displayed to provide men and 
money, were the natural consequence of a thirst for lib- 
erty. But as the nation at that time, restrained by the 
shackles of her own government, could only act by 
means of a monarchiccd organ, this organ, whatever in 
other respects the object might be, certainly performed 
a, good, a great action. Let, then, these United States 
be the safeguard and asylum of Louis Capet.^' 

Marat cries out : " Paine is a Quaker,'' and the benev- 
olence of this good man is whelmed over by the fierce 
and bloody sentiment of revenge. This is one of the 
sublime deeds which give us faith in man, but which 
appear at such wide intervals that they mark eras in 
the world's history. I know of but one other which 
rises to such touching sublimity — it is Socrates, at the 
head of the Athenian Senate, refusing to put the vote 
demanded by the laws, religion, and united voice of his 
country, which would condemn to death the admirals 
who were unable to bury the dead that had been slain 



314 GRAND OUTLINES OF 

in battle. Both offered their lives that others might 
live^ rather than be themselves unjust. 

Mr. Paine, by this effort to save the king's life, lost 
his influence in the assembly, and he became afterward 
a silent member, and, in the minds of many, set apart 
to die. Foreigners are now expelled from the conven- 
tion, and an order having passed that all persons born 
in England, and residing in France, should be impris- 
oned, he was, by order of Robespierre, arrested, and 
thrown into the Luxembourg. Of his narrow escapes, 
Mr. Paine says: 

" I was one of the nine members that composed the 
first committee of constitution. Six of them have been 
destroyed. Syeyes and myself have survived — he by 
bending with the tiuies, and I by not bending. The 
other survivor joined Robespierre, and signed with him 
the warrant of my arrestation. After the fall of 
Robespierre, he was seized and imprisoned, in his turn, 
and sentenced to transportation. He has since apolo- 
gized to me for having signed the warrant, by saying 
he felt himself in danger, and was obliged to do it. 

'^ Herault Sechelles, an acquaintance of Mr. Jefferson, 
and a good patriot, was my suppliant as member of the 
committee of constitution — that is, he was to supply my 
place, if I had not accepted or had resigned, being 
next in number of votes to me. He was imprisoned in 
the Luxembourg with me, was taken to the tribunal 
and the guillotine, and I, his principal, was left. 

^' There were but two foreigners in the convention — 
Anacharsis Cloots and myself We w^ere botli put out 
of the convention by the same vote, arrested by the same 
order, and carried to prison together the same night. 



THOMAS PAINE' S LIFE. 315 

He was taken to the guillotine^ and I was again left. 
Joel Barlow was with us when we went to prison. 

" Joseph Lebon^ one of the vilest characters that ever 
existed, and who made the streets of Arras run with 
blood, was my suppliant as member of the convention 
for the department of the Pays de Calais. When I was 
put out of the convention, he came and took my place ; 
when I was liberated from prison, and voted again into 
the convention, he was sent into the same prison, and 
took my place there ; and he went to the guillotine in- 
stead of me. He supplied my place all the way through. 
One hundred and sixty- eight persons were taken out of 
the Luxembourg in one night, and one hundred and 
sixty of them guillotined the next day, of which I know 
I was to have been one; and the manner I escaped that 
fate is curious, and has all the appearance of accident. 
When persons by scores and hundreds were to be taken 
out of prison for the guillotine, it was always done in 
the night, and those who performed that office had a 
private mark, or signal, by which they knew what rooms 
to go to, and what number to take. We were four, and 
the door of our room was marked, unobserved by us, 
with that number, in chalk; but it happened, if hap- 
pening is a proper word, that the mark was put on 
when the door was open and flat against the wall, and 
thereby came on the inside when we shut it at night, 
and the destroying angel passed by it. A few days after 
this Robespierre fell, and the American embassador ar- 
rived and reclaimed me, and invited me to his house. 

" During the whole of my imprisonment, prior to the 
fall of Robespierre, there was no time when I could 
think my life worth twenty-four hours, and my mind 



316 GRAND OUTLINES OF 

was made up to meet its fate. The Americans in Paris 
went in a body to tlie convention to reclaim me, but 
without success. There was no party among them with 
respect to me. My only hope then rested on the gov- 
ernment of America, that it would remember me. But 
the icy heart of ingratitude, in whatever man it may be 
placed, has neither feeling nor sense of honor. The let- 
ter of Mr. Jefferson has sei'ved to wipe away the re- 
proach, and has done justice to the mass of the people 
of America. 

^^About two months before this event, I was seized 
with a fever that, in its progress, had every symptom 
of becoming mortal. ... I have some reason to 
believe, because I can not discover any other cause, that 
tiiis illness preserved me in existence.'^ 

In these hoiH's of death, and when he expects to be 
beheaded at any moment, he is writing his Age of 
E.EASOX. The first part he completed just before going 
to prison; the second part he studies upon, and partly 
writes, while in prison, and publishes it a few months 
after his release. 

This work was planned years before it appeared, and 
its completion was deferred till near the close of his life, 
that the purity of his motives might not be impeached. 
It was written at that time, too, before he had intended 
it, because he expected soon to be })ut to death, and lest, 
in '^the general shipwreck of superstition, of false sys- 
tems of government, and false theology, the people lose 
sight of morality, of humanity, and of the theology that 
is true.^^ It was written to combat superstition, fanati- 
cism, and atheism on the one hand, and to defend re- 
ligion, morality, and deism on the other. It is the good 



THOMAS PAINE' 8 LIFE. 817 

and religious work of a good and religious man. The 
work it was designed to aceomplisli is not yet done, but 
it is well begun. As the world grows wiser it will be 
valued the more highly, and the more it is read the bet- 
ter will people become. 

Had Mr. Paine died at this time, his life's work 
would have been fulfilled, and the tranquillity of his 
life would not have been disturbed by the curses of the 
whole order of the priesthood. But there are fourteen 
years of life before him yet, in which he is maligned, 
vilified, slandered, and publicly' and privately insulted. 
I will briefly sum them up. Seven of these years he 
spends in France. He writes his essays "On the 
English System of Finance," " Aggrarian Justice,'' and 
the '' Letter to General Washington ; " also, one '' To 
the People and Armies of France." It seems he be- 
came attached to Napoleon, for the project of the gun- 
boat invasion of England is started, and should it suc- 
ceed, Mr. Paine is to give England a more liberal 
government. In 1802, he came to America, and the 
folly of gun-boats also enters into Jefferson's adminis- 
tration. These seven years of life in America are years 
of trouble and grief. Jefferson, the great Democratic 
partisan, secures his services to write for his party ; 
but he had never been a partisan, he had stood on 
higher ground, he had labored for all mankind, and the 
work, which ill became him, served only to aggravate 
his own life. We can see a mental change coming 
over the old man; the reason is yet strong, but the 
temper is irritable ; he grows peevish and broods over 
his wrongs. ''I ought not to have an enemy in 
America," he said. But the generation of people he 



318 GRAND OUTLINES OF 

now lived among^ near the close of his life, were not 
yet born ^^in the times that tried men's soals/' and 
they knew him not. He was the friend of Jefferson, 
and Jefferson had bitter enemies, who said ^^ they both 
ought to dangle from the same gallows.'' 

He had been paid but little for his revolutionary 
services, and he now felt the ingratitude of the old 
Congress, which had treated him badly, and the new 
one, which could not be bothered with him. Thus his 
miseries multiply. ^^ After so many years of serYice, 
my heart grows cold toward America,'' he writes, a 
year before his death, to the Speaker of the House of 
Representatives. Jefferson ought to have kept the old 
man aloof from politics, instead of thrusting him into 
his party broils, and bringing down on his head the 
whole host of his own personal enemies. Paine had 
enemies enough of his own without these. But great 
ideas and generous affections, it seems, Jefferson never 
had. Now, in his old age, the great apostle of liberty 
is deserted by many he had labored to befriend, and, 
though he does not meet death at the hands of his en- 
emies, they have venom enough in their hearts to slay 
him. 

It is sad to think that his last hours were embittered 
for the want of a friend. Washington had long be- 
fore forgotten him while a prisoner in the Luxembourg. 
Samuel Adams had condemned him. John Adams 
has it in his heart to blast his memory, and four years 
after he is dead writes to Jefferson, " Joel Barlow was 
about to record Tom Paine as the great author of the 
American Revolution. If he was, I desire that my 
name may be blotted out forever from its record.*' 



THOMAS PAINE' jS LIFE. 319 

This came from the man who twice deserted his post 
in the trying hour of his country ; once for four mouths 
when at the head of the war committee, and once for 
seven months when president of the nation. It came 
from the man who said : Jefferson had stolen his 
ideas from him to put into the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. "Blotted out," No! John Adams, your 
name will live forever on the records of your country. 
You were sometimes a great man. But by the side of 
Thomas Paine, on the records of your country, you 
stand thus : 

History, 

John Adams, Member Thomas Paine, the Ju- 
of Congress, the Colossus nius of England, author 
of debate, signer of the of Common Sense and the 
Declaration of Indepen- Declaration of Independ- 
dence, famous in the world, ence, wlfose fame is un- 
chief of the war com- known, on whom no trust 
mittee, on whom great was imposed by the pub- 
trusts were imposed, in lie, undertakes the business 
whom great faith was had, of a world ; enlists in the 
in the first trying crisis of army of Washington, and 
the new nation DESERT- in the first trying crisis of 
ED HER. Brave in his the new nation, by the inspi- 
home by the sea. ration of his pen, SAVED 

HER. Bravest when stout 

hearts fail. 

Franklin, the firm friend, has been dead these nine- 
teen years, and many more of the old first friends had 
gone the same way. His mind now reverts to his 
home in England, and the religion of his father haunts 
his affections. He asks to be buried in the Quaker 
burying-ground, and is refused, lest this act of decency 



320 GRAND OUTLINES OF 

should offend the sanctified followers of Fox. It is as 
well. The old man\s will records, that if this be not 
granted him on account of his father's religion, he was 
to be buried on his own farm at New Rochelle. On 
the 8th of June, 1809, he took his final leave of the 
world. ^^I have lived," said he, "an honest and use- 
ful life to mankind ; my time has been spent in doing 
good ; and I die in perfect composure and resignation 
to the will of my Creator — God." 

Thus the great eevolutionist passed away. Like 
all great men, he lived a virtuous^ upright life. He had 
a noble object in view, and labored manfully to ac- 
complish it. But having done his work well, his ene- 
mies have added to his fame by trying to undo what 
time has approved, and by reviling him when nature 
has applauded. 

CONCLUSION. 

Thomas Paine is now placed right before the world. 
He was peculiarly a favored child of nature. The 
great strokes of his character are these : A spirit to re- 
sent an injury which made him sometimes revengeful 
and vindictive. Yet a friend in his defense could call 
upon him for his life, and it would be granted. Too 
proud to be vain, he rose above the common level in 
personal honor, and demanded that the character of a 
nation should be without spot. Benevolent beyond 
his means, he lived like a miser, that he might have 
wherewith to bestow upon the needy, whether man, 
■woman, child, or country. 

Secretive beyond estimate, he lived a perfect spy 



THOMA S PA INK'S LIFE. 321 

upon the world, and obtained from friend and foe, 
from society and government, what they wished to 
conceal, and stored away facts which he locked up in 
his own mind to be used if needed, or everlastingly 
kept. He was too hopeful to estimate the future cor- 
rectly, and had too much faith in man to judge cor- 
rectly of his actions. Yet character he scarcely ever 
misjudged. As for courage, he dared to do any thing 
that was right. He dared to think like a philosopher, 
and to act like a man. Intellectually he was a prod- 
igy ; and as for genius, under which I combine the 
constructive analytic and imaginative faculties the 
world has never seen his equal. He was, in short, an 
artist, inventor, scholar, poet, philosopher, enemy and 
friend. These mental characteristics were so combined 
and regulated by his will, that nature could never re- 
peat what she produced in Thomas Paine. 

I have faithfully followed the lines of nature in this 
criticism, and have endeavored to produce a work 
which the student and statesman can study with profit ; 
which the lawyer may consider as an argument; which 
will arrest the attention of the historian, and present 
new themes to the mind of the philosopher; one which 
will open up a new method for the critic, and in all 
these a work which the scholar will not despise. This 
I say without vanity. Mine indeed are humble labors ; 
and my work, whatever it is, has not been laborious 
and artful, but easy and natural. 

I have not written this to make proselytes to his 
religion, but to do a much injured man a good service. 
Yet, as hero-worship is a part of man^s nature, it may 
not be improbable that one age will extol what a pre- 



322 CONCLUSION. 

vious one reviled, and a temple be erected to the 
religion of a man who was once thought to be a devil. 
This reminds me of a story which long ago I remember 
of reading in a volume of the Letters of the Turkish 
Spy; and as I quote from memory I will give only 
the substance : 

Two hundred years ago, somewhere in Spain, in 
front of a Christian house of worship, stood a statue. 
This was the black image of a man sitting on an ass. 
As each pious devotee passed in to worship, or came 
out therefrom, he spat upon the statue. But a Mussul- 
man embassador coming from the king of Morocco, 
observing these rites, which he was told had been 
performed for centuries, asked the king why they 
treated this image with such insult. He was told it 
was the image of Mahomet. The follower of Mahomet, 
being better informed, replied : This can not be, for 
Mahomet rode always on camels, and it was Jesus 
Christ who, it is recorded, rode on an ass. This fact 
was soon confirmed by the priests, and thereupon the 
people took to kissing and worshiping what they had 
before insultingly spat upon, and afterward erected a 
temple where it stood in honor of it. 



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